Updated on
Summary
An explosion ripped through a coal mine in West Virginia, killing at least eight workers and leaving more than 20 missing.The blast occurred toward the end of the afternoon at the Upper Big Branch mine run by Performance Coal Co., a subsidiary of Massey Energy, in the town of Mountcoal located some 50kms south of Charleston. A massive rescue operation was launched after the blast as local and volunteer firefighters rushed to the scene along with a fleet of ambulances and mine-safety workers tried to contact missing miners underground.
