Five US miners have been killed in an underground explosion in an eastern Kentucky coal mine.
The cause of the blast at the Darby Mine No. 1 in Harlan County was not immediately known but preliminary evidence suggests methane may have leaked from a sealed-off portion of the mine, mixed with oxygen and then something caused it to ignite.
Relatives of the miners had gathered at a nearby church to await word about their loved ones. State and federal mine officials informed the family members of the deaths, said Mike Blair, pastor of Cloverfork Missionary Baptist Church.
"He thought about coming out of the mines but we have two kids. It was a job to make a living," Middleton said of her husband, Roy.
"Mining is all he's ever done," Bean said, referring to her stepfather, Amon Brock. "It was his life."
It was the deadliest mining incident in the state since 1989, when 10 miners died in a western Kentucky mine blast, state officials said. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said Saturday's deaths raised the national death toll from coal mining accidents to 31 this year, with 10 of them in Kentucky.
The miners, who were part of a maintenance shift on duty when the blast occurred, were found about 3,000 feet into the mine, which is about 11,300 feet deep, said Ray McKinney, MSHA's administrator for coal mine safety and health.
The governor said some of the fallen miners had donned breathing devices after the explosion and tried to climb to safety. Federal investigators said four of them were found close together but could not confirm whether they had used breathing devices.
AP