UpperBigBranchMine News

UpperBigBranchMine News From AOL News

Federal, State Probes Begin in Upper Big Branch Mine

(April 12) -- Federal and state investigators today began a probe of last week's West Virginia coal mine explosion that killed 29 miners in the worst U.S. mining disaster in four decades. The investigation will focus on determining the source that ignited the explosion. Investigators will also check ventilation inside...

Crews Work to Pull Bodies Out of Shattered Mine

MONTCOAL, W. Va. (April 10) -- Crews on Saturday began the bleak task of carrying bodies out of a coal mine shattered by an explosion that left 29 men dead, only hours after families' hopes were crushed when they found out none of the workers survived. It had been an excruciating week for friends holding onto faint hopes...

Rescuers Await All-Clear to Search for Missing Miners

MONTCOAL, W.Va. (April 8) -- As sorrowful members of this West Virginia coal mining community made plans to bury their dead, rescue crews were waiting anxiously for federal clearance to resume the search for four miners still missing in the aftermath of an explosion. The blast Monday at the Upper Big Branch mine killed 25...

W.Va. Mine Still Too Unsafe for Rescue Attempt

MONTCOAL, W.Va. (April 7) -- Two full days after the worst U.S. mining disaster in a generation, dangerous gases underground prevented rescuers late Wednesday from venturing into the Upper Big Branch coal mine to search for any survivors of the explosion that killed at least 25 workers. Crews drilled holes deep into the...

Mine CEO Blankenship No Stranger to Controversy

(April 7) -- The coal company CEO vilified as the ultimate labor bogeyman even before this week's devastating mine explosion once spent $1.5 million to rebuild a historic train depot in his West Virginia hometown -- the town whose very name has become synonymous with union-busting and the struggle to improve the lives of...