Ky. town mourns five who died in mine blast

HOLMES MILL, Ky. -- Three of the five miners killed in an explosion in an eastern Kentucky coal mine probably survived the initial blast but died of carbon monoxide poisoning, a coroner said yesterday, based on preliminary autopsy results.

The other two miners -- Amon Brock, 51, and Jimmy D. Lee, 33 -- died from multiple blunt-force trauma and heat injuries, probably because they were closer to the blast Saturday, Harlan County coroner Philip Bianchi said.

Roy Middleton, 35, George William Petra, 49, and Paris Thomas Jr., 53, survived the blast but suffocated in the poisoned air, Bianchi said. It was not known how long the three miners lived before they succumbed.

The initial reports infuriated family members.

''It makes me upset that he smothered to death," Mary Middleton said about her husband. ''They need to have more oxygen for them."

''What they told me was when they found my husband, he had the rescuer on, and he was trying to get out," said Tilda Thomas.

''I just think all miners everywhere need bigger oxygen supplies. The rescuers only have an hour supply, even if they work at all."

Paul Ledford, the lone survivor, told his brother his breather worked for only about five minutes. ''They need to keep up with the technology," Jeff Ledford said.

Reeling from the state's worst mining disaster in nearly two decades, Holmes Mill grieved yesterday over the loss of the miners as federal officials tried to determine the cause.

Governor Ernie Fletcher said preliminary evidence suggested that methane may have leaked from a sealed-off portion of the mine and mixed with oxygen and that something caused it to ignite.

About two dozen people gathered yesterday at Closplint Church of God in Harlan County, just miles from the mine where the underground blast occurred.

''We lost some friends. . . . Some wives lost husbands. Some sons lost fathers. It's really sad," said Stevie Sizemore, a miner who said he was friends with the victims.

Darby Mine No. 1 in Harlan County will continue to be ventilated until today because pockets of methane gas inside remained a danger, said Mark York, spokesman for the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet. Once the gas is removed, investigators will inspect the site of the explosion.

Federal investigators said four of the miners were found close together, but could not confirm whether they had used breathing devices.

Paul Ledford was closer to the mine's exit than his co-workers, Fletcher said. He was about 15 feet from the mine's exit when he encountered rescuers on their way in to search, officials said.

Ledford was treated at Lonesome Pine Hospital in Big Stone Gap, Va., and released. Jeff Ledford said his brother sustained burns to his face and chest and has blisters.

The deaths raised the national death toll from coal mining accidents to 31 this year, 10 of them in Kentucky.

Responding to the January disaster at Sago Mine in West Virginia that killed 12, Kentucky legislators passed a bill requiring mines to store breathing devices underground and to set up lifelines to help miners find their way out.

But the law doesn't take effect until July, leaving distraught relatives wondering whether the tougher rules could have made a difference.

The mine, operated by Kentucky Darby LLC, is about 250 miles southeast of Louisville near the Virginia state line. Since Kentucky Darby took over as operator in May 2001, there had been 10 injuries and no deaths at the mine, according to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The last state inspection was April 28, Fletcher said. He said two safety violations were discovered: A battery charger was not properly ventilated and a high-voltage cable was not guarded.

The explosion Saturday was the deadliest mining incident in the state since 1989, when 10 miners died in a western Kentucky mine blast, state officials said.

A Senate panel last week passed a bill that would require miners to have at least two hours of oxygen available instead of one as under the current policy. It also would require mine operators to store extra oxygen packs along escape routes.

Though it wasn't clear whether the proposed legislation would have made a difference at the mine in Holmes Mill, some said the coroner's findings show a need for improved oxygen supplies.

''It does sound like they didn't have enough oxygen readily at hand," said Phil Smith, a spokesman for United Mine Workers of America, which supports legislation that would increase miners' oxygen supplies.

''These are just common sense things that ought to be done," Smith said of the proposed requirements.