Deadly Mine Explosion!

Rescue teams were trying to locate at least 19 trapped miners in a huge underground coal mine were an explosion killed 7 workers on Monday, the coal company and mine officials said.

9 rescue teams  made up of 6 members each were at the mine , but it was not clear if they had headed underground yet to pull people out, said federal Mine Safety and Health Administration spokeswoman Amy Louviere.

State mining director Ron Wooten said the blast that happened around 3 p.m. at Massey Energy Co. Upper Big Branch mine in Raleigh County, about 30 miles south of Charleston. The company did not provide details on the extent of the damage or if other miners had made it out on their own.

“We want to assure the families of all the miners we are taking every action possible to locate and rescue those still missing,” said Massey CEO, who confirmed the number of dead and missing in a statement.

The mine is operated by Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Co. It has caches of extra oxygen along emergency escape routes and airtight chambers designed to provide enough air to keep miners alive for four days if they can’t make their way out, according to Randy Harris, an engineering consultant who oversees installation of high-tech gear.

Federal records show three miners have died on the job at Upper Big Branch since 1998.

The mine produced 1.2 million tons of coal in 2009, according to the mine safety agency, and has about 200 employees, most of whom work underground. They would not have all been working the same shift.

Upper Big Branch extracts the bulk of its coal using a machine called a long-wall miner that uses a cutting head to move back and forth across the working face somewhat like a 1,000-foot-long deli slicer.

Massey Energy is a publicly traded company based in Richmond, Virginia, that has 2.2 billion tons of coal reserves in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia and Tennessee, according to the company’s Web site.

Massey ranks among America’s top five coal producers and is among the industry’s most profitable. It has a spotty safety record.

The federal mine safety administration fined Massey a then-record $1.5 million for 25 violations that inspectors concluded contributed to the deaths of two miners trapped in a fire in January 2006. The company later settled a lawsuit naming it, several subsidiaries and Chief Executive Don Blankenship as defendants. Aracoma Coal Co. later paid $2.5 million in fines after the company pleaded guilty to 10 criminal charges in the fire.

The United Mine Workers labor union said it has personnel nearby and would help non-union Massey if the company asks. The UMW said it also is ready to help families of workers at the mine. Massey is virulently non-union and CEO  television set with a UMW fired bullet in it still sits in his office.

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