Sunday, January 14, 2007

Two Die in West Virginia As Mine's Roof Caves In

CUCUMBER, W.Va. -- Two members of a coal mining crew removing pillars in a mine died Saturday when a portion of the tunnel collapsed and the men were buried in debris deep underground, authorities said.

None of the other miners in the 35-member crew was injured, said Ted Pile, a spokesman for Alpha Natural Resources, whose Abingdon-based subsidiary, Brooks Run Mining, operates the mine.

Pile said the crew was working on a process called retreat mining in which the miners work back toward the entrance extracting coal from the pillars that support the ceiling, Pile said.

Dispatchers said the accident scene was up to 1 1/2 miles beyond the entrance to the mine in McDowell County, about 90 miles west of Roanoke.

The state mine safety director, Ron Wooten, said it was unclear whether a pillar or portion of the ceiling collapsed. He had earlier said the miners apparently were caught when a pillar fell.

"There's no need for rescue teams, the individuals have been recovered," said Wooten, director of the state Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training.

Wooten said the bodies were taken to a hospital about 11 miles away in Welch. Their identities were not released.

The mine was closed following the fatal incident and would remain closed until regulators allow it to reopen, Pile said.

The deaths are the first in West Virginia's coal mines this year and the second and third in the nation. A miner was killed Jan. 6 at a Colorado mine, according to MSHA.

ATLANTA-- It's been a year since Coretta Scott King received thunderous applause when she surprised guests at the annual Salute to Greatness Dinner and appeared on stage, smiling and waving with her children.

On Saturday, guests again applauded the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., as she was honored posthumously for her human rights contributions and work to preserve her husband's legacy in the decades after his death.

King suffered a stroke and heart attack in August 2005 and battled ovarian cancer before she died in January 2006.

"The loss of this amazing and gallant woman was devastating for the nation and the King Center family," said her nephew, Isaac Newton Farris Jr., who now leads the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonsocial Violent Change.

Civil rights widow Myrlie Evers-Williams joined former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, entertainer Gladys Knight and the King children in saluting the civil rights matriarch.

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· BOSTON-- The Big Dig tunnel where a woman was crushed to death in a ceiling collapse last summer will reopen Sunday, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) said. Patrick said he has "full confidence in the repairs" after touring the tunnel where Milena Del Valle, 39, was killed July 10. Workers have installed and tested a new bracket-and-hanger system to support the concrete ceiling panels along a half-mile stretch of the tunnel.

· DETROIT-- A Yemeni immigrant from Hamtramck, Mich., being investigated for possible terrorist ties is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday for trying to take a knife onto a plane bound for Yemen. Mohammed Ghanem, 22, was stopped by security agents Sept. 7 in the McNamara Terminal at Detroit Metro Airport after they found an address book in his luggage that contained a knife slipped into a carved-out section, police said.

· ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A dispute over the ownership of two dogs rescued after Hurricane Katrina and adopted by two Tampa Bay residents will go to trial in April, a judge decided. Steven and Dorreen Couture, who live just outside New Orleans in St. Bernard Parish, filed suit in July, seeking to reclaim the dogs, adopted by Pam Bondi of Tampa and Rhonda Rineker of Dunedin. The suit also named the Humane Society of Pinellas, which adopted the dogs.

-- From News Services