Beamerball 566 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 May 20, 2006 11:54 AM EDT HOLMES MILL, Ky. - An explosion in an eastern Kentucky coal mine killed five miners while one other miner was able to get out alive, Gov. Ernie Fletcher said Saturday. The blast at the Darby Mine No. 1 in Harlan County occurred between midnight and 1 a.m. EDT while a maintenance shift was on duty, said Amy Louviere, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. "We don't know the details of the cause," Fletcher told The Associated Press. The five dead miners were found by rescue workers, the governor said. The rescue teams initially found three dead workers and later found two more, he said. Names of the victims were not immediately released. The survivor, who was not identified, was taken to Lonesome Pine Hospital in Big Stone Gap, Va., where he was treated and released, hospital spokeswoman Amy Stevens said. It was not clear how many workers were on duty when the blast occurred, but Louviere said no production was going on at the time. Harlan County Judge-Executive Joe Grieshop said the accident "shakes up our county because coal mining is a way of life for our people." The underground mine, operated by Kentucky Darby LLC, is located about 250 miles southeast of Louisville in a mountainous area near the Virginia border. A man who answered the phone at a Kentucky Darby office declined to comment Saturday, saying the company was too busy. "We can't release any information right now," he said before hanging up. Relatives of the miners gathered before dawn at the Cloverfork Missionary Baptist Church near the mine to await word about their loved ones. State and federal mine officials informed the family members of the deaths, said Mike Blair, the church's pastor. "There's just a lot of heartbroken people," he said. Local magistrate Chad Brock said the deaths would touch many lives. "There's not going to be a family that's not affected in some way," he said. "You either know them or you're kin to them." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beamerball 566 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 The victims names were released. Blast Kills 5 in Kentucky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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