The Birmingham News reported that four blasts have been detected inside the mine, with the largest yet occurring February 28. According to the News, Thomas Wilson, health and safety representative of the United Mine Workers of America, said carbon monoxide levels have reached more than 6,000 parts per million, a level high enough to cause death after 15 minutes of exposure.

“The night before the explosion, a company official said if a brattice [a ventilation control] blew out he would evacuate the mine—and when it happened they didn’t do it,” miner Morris Caffey told the Militant. “It’s going to be a crisis if someone doesn’t nip this in the bud.”

“We do not consider this to be a major event,” said a statement released by the company.

More than 800 people work at Shoal Creek Mine over three production shifts.

Miners reported that the company did not start evacuation procedures until Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) officials ordered the company to halt operations. All miners were evacuated safely.

Wilson told reporters that the miners are angry that the company didn’t act immediately. “We are seeing the legacy from an epidemic of lax compliance and lax enforcement,” he stated. “In this case, failure to evacuate until ordered was gross negligence.”

UMWA international vice-president Daryl Dewberry told the press that problems with the mine’s ventilation system may have triggered the fire. Referring to a recent state of Alabama mine inspection ordered as part of a lawsuit the union has filed, he said, “That was part of the mine not inspected. The state didn’t have the manpower or the resources to inspect that area. A more thorough inspection could have curtailed this.”
 
 
Related articles:
Mine workers strike in Mexico
Protest boss greed that killed 65
Demand safety measures to prevent other disasters
Miners’ union calls march in Alabama
Partisans of Militant Labor Forum in Price, Utah, fight eviction attempt by landlord tied to coal bosses
Miners discuss Buffalo Creek disaster at film showing
Build UMWA march! Back Mexican strikers!
An appeal to our readers  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home