Legal News for West Virginia Employment Attorneys. Four more bodies were recovered from the rubble at West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch Mine.
News for Virginia employment lawyers- MSHA to begin probe into Massey Energy coal mine explosion that left 29 miners dead.
Julian, WV—Rescue efforts to recover the last four bodies trapped in a West Virginia mine, which was plagued by a devastating coal mine explosion on Monday, April 5, 2010, were finally underway early Tuesday, April 13, 2010, over a week after the deadly blast occurred. Rescue operations were initially halted due to precarious gases underground, according to information provided by USA Today and previous reports by Justice News Flash.
After the tunnels within Massey Energy’s Performance Coal Co. Upper Big Branch mine were ventilated of their noxious gases, reports stated rescue crews removed the last of the blast victims at approximately 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. They were subsequently sent to the West Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner so autopsies could be performed. The horrific coal mine explosion left 29 miners fatally injured and was said to be the worst mining catastrophe to take place in the state since 1968.
Massey Energy Co. has reportedly been cited with countless safety violations, which allegedly included citations and proposed penalties for issues with the “system that vents methane” as well as their failure to keep combustible dust from building up within the coal mine. According to reports, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell “restored $750,000 in funding for mine safety inspections in Virginia to the states strained budget.”
The United States Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is expected to conduct a full investigation into the disastrous coal mine explosion that claimed the lives of 29 dedicated miners.
Legal News Reporter: Sandra Quinlan- Legal News for West Virginia Employment Lawyers.
