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ORIGINAL: sirsholly
Why in Gods name was this place not shut down? How can MSHA justify this?

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The reality of coal mining in West Virginia is that it is by definition an extremely dangerous job, but it is a job. Many of the people here have no hope for a job at all unless it is coal mining 

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MONTCOAL, W.Va. – Dangerous gases forced rescue crews to abandon the search Thursday for four coal miners missing since an explosion killed 25 colleagues in the worst U.S. mining disaster in more than two decades.

Rescuers had been working their way through the Upper Big Branch mine by rail car and on foot early Thursday, but officials said they had to turn back because of an explosive mix of gases in the area they needed to search.

"We think they are in danger and that's the whole intent of evacuating them from the mine," said Kevin Stricklin of the Mine Health and Safety Administration.

The rescuers made it to within about 1,000 feet of an airtight chamber with four days worth of food, water and oxygen where they hoped the miners might have sought refuge. They did not make it far enough to see the bodies of the dead or determine if anyone had made it to the chamber.

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ORIGINAL: sirsholly

"Massey CEO Don Blankenship has conceded that the explosion shows the mine was not completely safe"

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MONTCOAL, W.Va. – Searchers found four bodies deep in a West Virginia coal mine shattered by an explosion, raising the death toll to 29 and ending an excruciating week for families holding onto faint hopes that their missing miners had somehow survived.