West Virginia explosion traps miners -official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) _ An early-morning explosion at a West
Virginia coal mine on Monday trapped at least 12 miners a mile
underground and officials said dangerously high levels of
methane gas hampered the rescue effort.

Six miners escaped immediately after the blast at the Sago
mine near Buckhannon, West Virginia, which was reported at
about 8 a.m., said Louise Bleigh of the Upshur County
operations office in Tallmansville.

She said 13 miners remained trapped. Terry Farley, an
administrator at the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health
Safety, put the number at “approximately 12.”

High levels of methane gas around the mine forced officials
to evacuate people from the area around the mine while they
used fans to dissipate the gas, according to Steve Milligan of
the county’s Office of Emergency Management.

But Milligan told CNN it was unclear whether the gas caused
the explosion. “We don’t know for sure,” he said.

He said rescuers needed to clear the mine shafts of gas
before they could move back in.

“There’s been no contact with the miners at all,” he said.

Rescuers from state and federal safety agencies were on
site and more were en route, according to Farley.

Residents said the blast shook nearby houses, according to
local media that reported rescuers had not been able to
establish communication with the trapped miners.

The mine, owned by International Coal Group Inc, is located
in central West Virginia, about 100 miles from Charleston.

International Coal representative Mark Spencer said, “We
have no comment at this time.”

The West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health Safety and
Training says there were three fatalities involving miners in
2005 from three separate incidents.

In 2002, nine Pennsylvania coal miners were rescued after a
77-hour ordeal in a flooded mine shaft 240 feet underground.