West Virginia Coal Towns Mourn the Miners Lost

NEW YORK TIMES
MONTCOAL, W.Va. — This community turned from prayers for a miracle rescue to all-out mourning on Saturday, hours after officials confirmed that the last four coal miners missing after a mine explosion last week were dead. That news brought the death toll to 29, making it the nation’s worst mine disaster in four decades.

On Friday, scores of people filed into churches across the region for the first of what is to be a string of funerals in the coming days.

The Massey Energy Company, which owns the Upper Big Branch mine, has said it will pay for the miners’ funerals. Church officials said that donations for the families of the miners were being accepted at the Montcoal Mining Disaster Fund, which was being run by the West Virginia Council of Churches. And Gov. Joe Manchin III has asked for a national moment of silence at 3:30 Monday afternoon, a week after the blast tore through the mine.

Both the Senate and the House plan to conduct hearings on the explosion. Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, said lawmakers would scrutinize Massey’s practices.

The 29 deaths are the highest in an American mine since 1970, when 38 miners were killed in an explosion at the Finley Coal Company in Hyden, Ky.

The explosion last week was the third major mining disaster in West Virginia in the last four years. An explosion at the Sago mine on Jan. 2, 2006, trapped 13 miners for nearly two days. Only one was found alive when a rescue crew was able to break through to the blast area. On Jan. 19 that same year, two miners died in a fire at the Aracoma Alma Mine No. 1.

In Montcoal, during a nerve-racking 100-hour rescue effort, families and friends had clung to a sliver of hope that the four missing miners would be found alive. But, in a final foray into the heavily damaged mine, rescue workers found no survivors.

In a statement on Saturday, President Obama said the deaths had taken an “immeasurable” toll on all West Virginians. He vowed to “take whatever steps are necessary” to ensure that miners are safe and that there are no similar disasters. “We cannot bring back the men we lost,” Mr. Obama said. “What we can do, in their memory, is thoroughly investigate this tragedy and demand accountability.”

In shifting Saturday from rescue to recovery, emergency crews began the arduous process of trying to remove the 22 bodies still inside the mine. Seven bodies were recovered shortly after the blast, which also injured two people.

Officials believe the explosion was probably caused by a methane buildup, though that has not been verified. The Upper Big Branch mine has had repeated problems with methane buildups, as well as other ventilation violations.

In Whitesville, Beckley and other towns near the Upper Big Branch — which is about 30 miles south of Charleston — signs remained at churches and stores calling for people to pray for the miners and their families. Flags hung at half-staff. Black ribbons adorned several storefronts.

Much as the veins of coal lace the Appalachian Mountains, coal is ever-present among the residents of the hollows and towns that dot this rugged terrain.

Faith runs deep here, too.

“Their loved ones are now smiling down upon them,” Representative Nick J. Rahall II, a Democrat whose district includes the Upper Big Branch mine, said shortly after the announcement that all 29 miners had died. “And we all know that they are in a better place, and that they did not suffer in getting there.”