Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 9, 1993 TAG: 9304090268
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE and GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NORTON LENGTH: Long
BLAST CAUSE NARROWED TO SMOKING AROUND METHANE
Evidence points to smoking as the spark for the explosion that killed eight miners in Wise County on Dec. 7 - the state's worst mine disaster in more than 30 years.State investigators also described blatant violations of mining and air-flow plans that could have led to the accumulation of explosive levels of methane in Southmountain Coal Co.'s No. 3 mine.
A special governor's task force overseeing the explosion investigation received the reports during a hearing Thursday from state Division of Mines investigators.
Although investigators gave no conclusions about what sparked the explosion, they seem to have narrowed it to smoking by ruling out most other possible causes. Electrical equipment inside the Southmountain No. 3, though not always properly maintained, showed no signs of arcing or fire.
State mine safety officials reported to the task force that three of the eight miners were carrying packages of cigarettes, cigarette butts and lighters. A partially smoked cigarette was found on the floor of the mine near one piece of equipment, and a heat-damaged cigarette lighter was found underneath it.
Some family members wept softly as investigators described personal items found on the miners during autopsies, including the cigarettes.
After the meeting adjourned for the day, family members lashed out angrily. They accused state and federal officials of putting the blame on the miners instead of on sloppy or complacent mining practices or inspections.
Nearly every family member talked to said the real question is how the methane built up to an explosive level in a mine that state inspectors had considered to be nongassy.
"I don't feel they're being fair; they're blaming this on . . . the men," said Loraine Owens, the widow of one of the dead miners.
Evidence indicated that ventilation and roof-control plans in the mine were not being followed at the time of the explosion. Evidence also indicated that the spreading of lime to suppress explosive coal dust was inadequate. Exploding coal dust can make a methane explosion much worse.
Max Kennedy, a United Mine Workers safety official who is sitting on the task force, said the evidence indicated the company was willfully violating mining and ventilation procedures in a hurried effort to get as much coal out as it could before inspectors were scheduled to show up later in the week.
"It seems they just wanted to seal it and get the hell out."
He said evidence also indicates that state inspections were inadequate. Evidence from interviews with employees showed that the mine was working six- and seven-day weeks to fill a contract.
Family members said some victims had been growing weary of the long hours. Owens, 31, of Haysi, said her husband, Brian, was working his ninth shift in a row when he was killed. The day before the explosion, she said, mine overseer Ridley Elkins told the men if they didn't come to work Sunday night, he would fire them.
Walter Carlton said his brother Dave had described the mine as hot with methane and had told him he was afraid it was going to explode. He said he begged his brother to quit, but his brother told him he couldn't change jobs because "he had two little kids and that was the only place that had health insurance."
"Hellhole No. 3 is what they ought to call it," Carlton said as he looked over a map of Southmountain.
Task force members and relatives of the dead miners listened to hours of tediously detailed descriptions of conditions inside the mine following the explosion, including what was found along virtually each inch of the more than mile-long shaft.
The details revealed an explosion of tremendous destructive force and heat. Concrete block barriers in the mine tunnels shattered; coal was cooked into coke along the entire length of the mine; heavy machinery was tossed like toys. The blast shot clothing, tools and heavy timbers out of the mine's mouth like shrapnel out of a cannon. Investigators showed pictures of a ladder high in a tree and debris blown across a small valley outside the mine.
Although family members complained that the state had not properly inspected the mine, officials said state inspectors and mining specialists visited the mine 12 times during 1992. Three of those were detailed quarterly required inspections.
State inspectors said they never found any serious violations or methane problems. However, reports indicate much of the improper mining probably occurred since inspectors last visited the mine in September.
The next quarterly inspection of the mine had been due on Dec. 9, two days after the explosion.
Evidence presented to the task force indicated that for some reason - perhaps because improper mining had caused cave-ins to block critical ventilation tunnels - methane built up to explosive levels. Methane is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that a state official said has killed more than 10,000 miners.
During a somber portion of the hearing, as family members clutched one another and struggled to hold back sobs, an investigator described where each of the dead men had been found by rescuers.
Autopsy results showed that seven of the miners died instantly where they were working from inhalation of flames, hot gases and carbon monoxide. The eighth man, foreman Norman Vanover, was hurled into a post and died of a skull fracture.
Both of the miners found near the cigarette lighter that may have sparked the explosion were carrying cigarettes. One had 10 Viceroy butts in his clothing and an open pack of Viceroys. The other carried an open pack of Doral cigarettes, a butane lighter and a cigarette butt. A nearby dinner bucket contained two more packs of Doral cigarettes.
Investigators refused to identify which miners were found in what locations or to say who was carrying cigarettes. They said they were withholding that information in deference to the families.
It is forbidden by federal and state mining laws to carry cigarettes in a mine. After the Southmountain explosion, Virginia lawmakers turned smoking in a mine into a criminal offense, carrying possible prison time.
Investigators said all physical evidence taken from the mine has been sent for laboratory analysis, and the results have not yet been received. That includes tests on a methane monitor that had showed signs of tampering.
A filter on the monitor had been replaced with a rag. The General Assembly also made it a felony to tamper with a monitor.
The hearing continues today, when task force members will get a chance to question investigators. However, Division of Mines officials said Thursday they were withholding any conclusions about the cause of the blast until their final report. The report is expected by the end of this month.
Tony Oppegard, a lawyer representing the families of three of the victims, said it's pretty obvious investigators are going to blame the explosion on the miners for smoking. Oppegard and family members have accused federal and state inspectors of trying to shift the blame to the miners since December, when the top federal mine official revealed that cigarettes had been found on some of the miners.
But, he said, "even if you have an ignition source, it wouldn't matter if there's nothing there to light."
He said the key questions to be asked are how the methane was allowed to build up and why the mine management didn't adequately enforce safety regulations, such as searching miners for cigarettes.
Oppegard, director of the Mine Safety Project in Lexington, Ky., said investigators weren't getting at the important question. That, he said, was why federal and state officials don't tell miners they had the right to refuse to work in an unsafe mine without being fired.
Liz Mullins, the widow of Mike Mullins, said the men don't know their rights. But even if they did, she said, they might not demand them in the Virginia coalfields where jobs are scarce.
"They're job-scared," said Mullins, who was left with two young children to care for.
Keywords:
FATALITY