Darby Mine Disaster 20 May 2006 Harlan County, Kentucky
Please remember the five coal miners and their families in your prayers.
To view their obituaries please click on their names to take you to that page
AMON "Cotton" BROCK age 51,Closplint;
JIMMY D LEE age 33, Wallins Creek;
ROY MIDDLETON age 35, of Evarts;
GEORGE WILLIAM PETRA age 49, of Kenvir;
PARIS THOMAS JR age 53, of Evarts
Pray for Mine Safety
A contribution fund to aid the families of the fallen miners has been set up at the Bank of Harlan.
Please send contributions to:
Bank Of Harlan
PO Box 919
201 E. Central St
Darby Coal Miners Fund
Attention: Pam Kelly
Harlan, KY 40831
(606) 573-1202
Harlan Daily Enterprise
Local News
Five miners killed in explosion
Saturday May 27 2006
By BRANDON GOINS - Staff Writer
Sunday, May 21, 2006 9:29 PM EDT
BRANDON GOINS/ Harlan Daily Enterprise Governor Ernie Fletcher discussed
Saturday's mine explosion with MSHA, EPPC and county officials before making a
statement to the press. Five miners were killed after the Clover Fork mine exploded early
Saturday morning and one more was injured.
Five miners were killed and one was injured early Saturday morning after an explosion
within a Holmes Mill mine.
The bodies of Amon Brock, 51, of Closplint, Jimmy B. Lee, 33, of Wallins, Roy
Middleton, 35, of Evarts, George William Petra, 49, of Kenvir, and Paris Thomas Jr., 53,
of Evarts, were found inside the mine.
Paul Ledford, of Dayhoit, was the only miner of the six inside the mine who survived. He
was taken to Wellmont Lonesome Pine Hospital in Big Stone Gap, Va., where he was
treated and released.
According to members of Ledford's family, he suffered burns to the body and face.
The six miners were reportedly just beginning a new shift at the mine and were the only
miners inside the mine at the time the incident occurred around 1 a.m.
Shortly after the incident occurred, families who arrived at the Kentucky Darby mining
property entrance were told to congregate at the Cloverfork Missionary Baptist Church,
only a quarter of mile from the mine.
No information was given to family members at that time, but they were assured they
would be told any information as soon as it was available.
Not much later at 8:45 a.m., representatives from the United States Mine Safety and
Health Administration, the Kentucky Environmental Protection Cabinet and the Kentucky
Office of Mine Safety and Licensing arrived at the church.
“We have three victims,” said MSHA's Dan Johnson. “We have not identified them yet.
We are searching for two more, but we have not found them. There was a mine explosion.
As soon as we find out more we'll come and tell you. Right now this is still a rescue
mission.”
Several of the family members broke down, but nobody knew if their loved one was one
of the three victims or the status of the missing two.
An hour later, they were given a second update - two more bodies were found. The
families returned to their homes.
Three of the five miners likely survived the initial blast but died of carbon monoxide
poisoning, Harlan County Coroner Philip Bianchi said Sunday based on preliminary
autopsy results. The other two miners died from multiple blunt force trauma and heat
injuries, probably because they were closer to the blast.
Middleton, Petra and Thomas survived the blast but were suffocated by the poisoned air,
Bianchi said.
Bianchi said officials may be able to determine how long the three miners lived before they
succumbed, but that would depend on their toxicology reports. He did not give a timetable
on when those reports would be completed.
According to Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who arrived on the scene and talked to members of the
press, the explosion occurred approximately 5,000 feet within the mine.
Miners who were standing outside the mine were knocked off their feet by the force of the
explosion. Oil cans sitting outside the mine were ruptured by flying rock. Soot and ash
covered buildings and equipment.
Fletcher said the explosion occurred near an area sealed off to prevent the escape of
methane gas, and mine officials suspected gas may have been leaking from the area and
was ignited by a spark.
According to Jeff Ledford, a disabled miner who is Paul Ledford's brother, Paul Ledford
was working with two of the other miners at the mine face when the explosion occurred.
“One of them was using a torch and cutting something off the tailpiece,” he said,
explaining that the tailpiece was a part of the mine belt near the older, sealed off section of
the mine.
“He felt something vibrating through his body,” he said, “like when there's a roof fall ... it
felt like that.”
According to Jeff Ledford, Paul began to lead the other two miners toward the mine
entrance by finding an electrical supply line and following it out, but the two other miners
couldn't breathe through the smoke and turned back.
Paul Ledford continued forward with a self-contained self rescuer (SCSR) breathing
apparatus, which is designed to supply oxygen for one hour. He said Paul Ledford's air
supply only lasted five minutes, and eventually he passed out for over two hours.
He said that his brother regained consciousness at one point and crawled 30 or 40 more
feet before passing out a second time. A third time he made it another 40 feet.
“Then he seen some lights down below him,” he said. Ledford turned his light off and then
back on. Rescuers saw him and evacuated him from the mine on a mantrip.
The two men who turned back were among the five miners later found dead.
Jeff Ledford said he and Paul had already lost a brother, David Ledford, in a 1996 mining
accident.
“If they had the right breathing equipment (Saturday), I know at least three of them might
have come out,” Jeff Ledford said. “In my opinion, they should give them the right
equipment to work with in the first place. Every mine around here, they try to cover up
like everything's all right.”
Ledford's account is similar to the account of Randal McCloy Jr, the lone survivor of the
Sago Mine disaster, who said in a letter to the victims' families that at least four of his
crew's breathing devices had failed.
According to a report by the Associated Press, investigators will determine whether the
breathing devices were functional.
According to Fletcher, the mine has had three serious accidents and eight closure orders
since opening in May 2001. Also, he said the mine has had eight non-compliance orders
over the past year, the latest of which was issued in April.
Other news agencies have reported that the mine has been issued over 250 citations since
2001.
The mine was opened and operated by Ralph Napier Sr.
Fletcher said that an investigation into the incident will begin Monday, after repairs are
made to the mine's ventilation system and breathable air is restored within the mine.
Harlan County Coroner Philip Bianchi said the bodies will be sent to the state medical
examiners office on Sunday.
The families of the victims were all notified within hours of the incident. Eight hours after
the incident, family members had already returned home.
When a roof fall killed Brandon Wilder and Russell Cole last year in Stillhouse Mine No. 1
near Cumberland, family members of Cole complained that they hadn't been given any
information from the mining company, state or federal officials until two days after the
incident. At that point, the family blocked the road and held up signs in demonstration.
Later, mine officials from Black Mountain Resources came down to answer questions and
inform them of the rescue efforts ongoing in the mine.
When asked about the two incidents in comparison, Fletcher said that he met with the
Cole family after the accident and asked, “what could we do better?” Communication was
an important issue that came from that meeting and new policies were put into effect to
make that a priority, he said.
“There's no reason we can't talk with the families and let them know as much as possible,”
he said.
Fletcher commended the work of mine rescue officials, which included those from MSHA,
OMSL, a private rescue crew from Lone Mountain Processing and the Harlan County
Rescue Squad.
“They saved the life of one man,” said Fletcher.
A new law was passed during the last general assembly that would require state inspectors
to visit every coal mine in Kentucky at least three times a year and provides job protection
to whistleblowers. The law also requires caches of SCSRs as well as lifelines to help
miners find their way out.
During a press conference in Frankfort, Fletcher said there was a possibility that the new
law would have helped, but the new law does not go into effect until July 12 in order to
allow mines to comply.
Dan Mosley, Harlan County's 911 coordinator, said “As a county, and those with loved
ones in the mines, all we can hope for is initiatives to be put in place by the governor and
federal officials to make these mines safer.”
He said with the boom in coal production, the possibility of accidents was bound to
increase.
This increase claimed the life of a good friend of Mosley's, Jimmy Lee, who he said “was a
wonderful man.”
By the afternoon, the normally quiet Holmes Mill area was flooded with reporters and
affiliates from nearly every regional and well-known national news organization including
CNN, Fox News, NBC and ABC.
Families who had lost a husband, father, brother or son only a few hours earlier took calls
and visits from nearly a dozen reporters who searched for information about the five men
killed.
Mosley, a former reporter himself, said this was the “most tragic event in Harlan County in
my lifetime.”
Harlan County Judge-Executive Joe Grieshop said it was an “extremely sad day for Harlan
County, Kentucky, and the coal mining industry.”
“Our citizens choose to mine coal because it's how they support their families,” he said.
“These brave men who perished today put their lives on the line every time they walked
into a coal mine. They're heroes ... nothing less than heroes.”
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