Around midnight a small fire broke out and all 10 miners tried to put it out. Before they were able to get the fire under control, the blaze ignited a pocket of methane gas. Killed in the explosion were Cory Nielson 28, a propman who had worked in the mine for 16 weeks, and Shane Stansfield, 29, a mechanic who had been at Willow Creek for 24 weeks.

Two other miners were flown to University Hospital in Salt Lake City: Tyson Hales, 21, and Kyle Medley, 27. Hales was listed in critical condition on August 8, with a closed head injury and burns, and Medley was in serious condition with multiple fractures and burns to his face and arms.

Hales and Medley were saved when Willow Creek's mine-rescue team ignored warnings and entered the mine to carry out the workers.

Willow Creek is a nonunion mine. It is managed by Cyprus Plateau Mining Corp., a subsidiary of RAG American Coal, one of the world's biggest coal producers. When in operation, the mine, which employs 325 workers, produces about 5 million tons of coal annually.

This was not the first safety problem at the mine. Willow Creek, which miners report has a reputation of being a gassy mine, was closed for a year beginning in November 1998 after methane gas ignited, causing a blaze that took 12 months to put out. The 46 miners who were working at that time managed to escape without serious injury. In December 1999, RAG resumed operations, but only recently had begun to mine the section where the August 1 fire and explosion occurred.

Records show that the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) cited Willow Creek management for 615 safety violations between October 1996 and the mine's last inspection, on July 30, 2000. MSHA deemed 286 of the violations "substantial and serious" and the fines exceeded $270,000. The rules infractions included lack of proper roof controls to prevent collapses of coal or rocks, and failure to test for explosive methane gas every 20 minutes where mining occurs.

To suffocate the fire, all five mine portals and the 120-foot ventilation shaft have been filled with dirt. RAG officials said they did not know how long it would take to extinguish the blaze, which carbon monoxide tests indicated was still burning.

MSHA inspectors said that it will be several days before they expect to release a preliminary report on their findings of the cause of the explosion.

Four miners have been killed in Utah so far this year, up from one in 1999. In a related development, Claud Butler, 45, a haul truck driver, was killed July 29 at Black Butte, a nonunion mine near Rock Creek, Wyoming. Butler ran off the road and was thrown from his vehicle. Miners at Black Butte have been working a substantial amount of overtime because of the UMWA strike in nearby Kemmerer. Coal from Black Butte has been used to fuel the PP&L power plant outside Kemmerer. Prior to the strike, PP&L burned coal from the Kemmerer mine.