MONTCOAL, W.Va. — Two 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 ground to release the gases. By evening, a federal safety official said the levels of lethal carbon monoxide and highly explosive hydrogen and methane measured at the top of the holes were dropping.
Officials by late evening planned to test levels at the bottom of the holes to determine whether three teams of five rescuers each can enter.
“We just can’t take any chances” with the lives of rescuers, Kevin Stricklin of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said earlier. “If we’re going to send a rescue team, we have to say it’s safe for them to go in there.”
Officials could not say specifically when rescuers might be able to go in, but if the readings at the bottom were good, they wanted them on the move as soon as possible, Stricklin said.
Gov. Joe Manchin and others saw only a “sliver of hope” that the four missing miners survived by reaching one of the shaft’s rescue chambers, which are stocked with food, water and enough oxygen to last four days. Workers planned to drill another hole so they could lower a camera into one of the airtight chambers to see whether anyone managed to get inside.
The federal mine agency appointed investigators to look into the blast, which officials said might have been caused by a buildup of methane.
The mine’s owner, Massey Energy Co., has been repeatedly cited for problems with the system that vents methane and for allowing combustible dust to build up.
On the day of the blast, MSHA cited the mine with two safety violations — one involving inadequate maps of escape routes, the other concerning an improper splice of electrical cable. Stricklin said the violations had nothing to do with the blast.
Massey chief executive Don Blankenship has strongly defended the company’s record and disputed accusations from miners that he puts coal profits ahead of safety.
