Darby Mine No. 1 disaster

The Darby Mine No. 1 disaster in Harlan County, Kentucky, USA, on May 20, 2006 killed five miners and left one survivor.^[1]

Cause of the Explosion

Methane build-up behind Omega Blocks

As reported in a May 23, 2006 story in The Courier-Journal,^[2] "Investigator thinks methane to blame for Darby mine explosion," by Deborah Yetter and Tom Loftus, at a news conference in Holmes Mill, Kentucky on May 22, 2006, Chuck Wolfe, spokesman for Kentucky's Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet announced that investigators entered the mine for the first time since the explosion on May 22. 2006. He said that Tracy Stumbo, chief investigator at the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing, was “pretty satisfied it was a methane explosion...Our chief investigator said he had no reason to think coal dust was a factor.”

Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher told reporters on May 22, as he left the Capitol to attend funeral visitation for the victims, “I think we have a preliminary cause right now, and that’s an explosion that occurred from a contained area that apparently was leaking...That’s why we went about setting a new protocol to check all of the non-conventional containment procedures. So we’re fairly confident that is where the explosion began.”

Asked whether the seals would be banned, Fletcher replied, " “I would not go that far at this time. But I think it does certainly behoove us to check the integrity of these non-conventional seals and make sure they are, in fact, working as they should....It’s a substantial number and it could have a tremendous impact on coal mining if there was a systemic problem that was determined regarding these non-conventional seals.”

References

1. ^ http://www.msha.gov/MSHAINFO/FactSheets/MSHAFCT8.HTM Historical Data on Mine Disasters in the United States
2. ^ http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/kent-m24.shtml