coal miners

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Workers at This Company's Sites Keep Dying

At least 21 dead in coal mine fire in Kazakhstan, the latest in tragedies striking ArcelorMittal Temirtau

(Newser) - A coal mine fire in central Kazakhstan killed at least 21 workers, while another 25 remained unaccounted for on Saturday, operating company ArcelorMittal Temirtau said in a statement. Some 252 people were working at the Kostenko coal mine at the time of the blaze, believed to have been caused by...

Coal Mine Blast Kills 41, Union Calls It a 'Massacre'

'A frightful scene' in Amasra, Turkey, after Friday explosion

(Newser) - Funerals for miners killed in a coal mine explosion in northern Turkey began Saturday as officials raised the death toll to at least 41 people. Desperate relatives had waited all night in the cold outside the state-owned Turkish Hard Coal Enterprise's (TTK) mine in the town of Amasra, in...

Union Slams 'Outrageous' Order to Pay Coal Company $13M

United Mine Workers of America plans to challenge decision on costs caused by strike

(Newser) - A federal oversight board has ordered the United Mine Workers of America to pay more than $13 million in compensation to an Alabama coal company whose members have been on strike for more than a year, a ruling the union said Wednesday it would challenge. The National Labor Relations Board...

52 Miners and Rescuers Die After Methane Gas Explosion

Siberian officials say there's no chance of finding more survivors

(Newser) - Update: This file has been updated throughout with new information about casualties and details of the explosion. A devastating blast in a Siberian coal mine Thursday left 52 miners and rescuers dead about 820 feet underground, Russian officials said. Hours after a methane gas explosion and fire filled the mine...

They Need Pumps to Get to 15 Trapped Men. No One Is Offering

High-powered gear is needed to rescue miners in India's Meghalaya state; things now look dire

(Newser) - Rescuers are now citing "the Almighty" as one of their last hopes for getting 15 coal miners out of a "rat-hole" mine in the Indian state of Meghalaya. Per ABC News , things look dire for the trapped men, who didn't emerge from the mine on Dec. 13,...

In Coal Country, a 'Slow-Rolling Disaster'
In Coal Country,
a 'Slow-Rolling
Disaster'
NEW STUDY

In Coal Country, a 'Slow-Rolling Disaster'

New studies show increase in numbers of miners with both early, advanced 'black lung disease'

(Newser) - In what one epidemiologist calls a "slow-rolling disaster," a new set of studies presented at an American Thoracic Society conference this week offered glum news for coal miners. Per NPR , more Appalachian miners are plagued by both early- and late-stage pneumoconiosis , or "black lung disease," than...

Powder Meant to Save Miners May Be Killing Them Instead

For decades miners were forced to inhale aluminum dust

(Newser) - Between the 1940s and 1980s, miners in Ontario went through a strange ritual at the start of every workday: They'd take off their street clothes, enter a room where their work clothes hung, and as soon as the doors closed, watch the room fill with black powder that they...

No Miracles: 33 Trapped Miners Found Dead in China

All bodies have been recovered

(Newser) - All 33 coal miners trapped underground by a gas explosion in China have been found dead, reports the AP . Two of their fellow miners made it to safety in the aftermath of Monday's blast, but rescuers working around the clock found no others alive. All bodies have been recovered,...

War-Torn Ukraine's New Woe: Trapped Miners

One confirmed dead in underground explosion

(Newser) - An explosion ripped through a coal mine before dawn in war-torn eastern Ukraine today, killing at least one miner and trapping more than 30 others underground, rebel and government officials say. The explosion at the Zasyadko mine in Donetsk, an eastern city under separatist control, occurred more than 3,280...

Black Lung Rates Rise 900%: Report

Appalachian coal miners contracting disease with prevalence not seen since '70s

(Newser) - Just 15 years ago, scientists were confident that the advanced, incurable version of black lung disease had been all but wiped out. Now, coal miners in Appalachia are contracting the illness—also known as progressive massive fibrosis—at rates not seen since the 1970s, the Courier-Journal reports. A National Institute...

2 Dead in West Virginia Coal Mine Collapse

Mine had loads of safety violations

(Newser) - Two miners were killed when the roof of a West Virginia coal mine collapsed following a "coal outburst" last night. The coal outburst, a sudden violent eruption of coal, gas, and rock from a coal face, came at 8:47pm, and the roof collapse was reported at about 10pm,...

Tennessee Declares End to 1892 Coal Creek War

State no longer at war with miners

(Newser) - Some 121 years after the Coal Creek War broke out, Tennessee has officially declared an end to hostilities. A "peace treaty" to end the labor uprising was signed earlier this month at Fort Anderson, where Tennessee National Guardsmen once battled striking coal miners enraged by the use of convict...

Irate Zambian Miners Kill Chinese Manager

Coal miners riot over low wages

(Newser) - A fresh round of unrest has hit Chinese-operated mines in Zambia. Rioting coal miners killed a Chinese manager on Saturday by pushing a mine trolley at him as he tried to flee, reports the BBC . Another Chinese manager and several Zambians were injured during the incident at the mine, which...

China Accidents Trap 40 Miners
 China Accidents Trap 40 Miners 

China Accidents Trap 40 Miners

Cave-in and flood hit separate mines

(Newser) - A coal mine flood in southwestern China trapped 21 miners underground, while a cave-in at another mine today killed at least three workers and left 19 others sealed off, officials said. Rescuers scrambled to reach the miners at the Niupeng coal mine in the county of Pingtang in Guizhou province...

Third Explosion Shakes New Zealand Mine

Prime minister plans memorial service for 29 lost miners

(Newser) - A third explosion has rattled the New Zealand coal mine where 29 workers were lost this week, the Wall Street Journal reports. The latest blast was the smallest and “isn't likely to impede any work out there,” police said. Prime minister John Key today announced a Dec. 2...

New Zealand Mourns 29 Lost Miners

But mine should reopen, civic leaders say

(Newser) - As New Zealand mourns the 29 miners lost in Tuesday’s second explosion , civic leaders are already calling for the mine to be reopened. "A big part of our economy on the west coast is coal and, yes, we want our men back down the mine working,” says...

High Gas Levels Thwart NZ Miner Rescue

But officials confident missing 29 still alive

(Newser) - Twenty-nine New Zealand miners remained stuck more than a mile underground today as high methane and carbon monoxide levels prevented rescuers from retrieving them. "Unfortunately it's just not as simple as putting on a mask and gown and rushing in there," says one official. "It does pose...

New Zealand Mine Explosion Leaves 32 Missing

 27 Missing After NZ Mine Blast 
UPDATED

27 Missing After NZ Mine Blast

1 killed in explosion at South Island coal mine

(Newser) - One person is dead and at least 27 are unaccounted for after an underground explosion at a coal mine on New Zealand's South Island. An electrician sent to investigate a power outage discovered a loader driver who had been blown off his machine nearly a mile into the mine shaft,...

All 37 Chinese Miners Dead
 All 37 Chinese Miners Dead 

All 37 Chinese Miners Dead

Relatives slam safety standards in mine

(Newser) - Chinese officials have pulled the last five bodies of miners from the Yuzhou shaft that exploded Saturday , bringing the toll to 37. The outcome stands in sharp contrast to the rescue in Chile, reports the BBC, with little media attention paid to the latest accident in an industry that lost...

Chinese Mine Blast Kills 20, Traps 17

Gas-filled mine fraught with danger for rescuers

(Newser) - It's a good time to not be a miner: Mere days after Chile pulled off its rescue, Chinese officials are fighting perilous conditions to rescue 17 miners trapped underground after an explosion in a coal mine that killed at least 20. Gas levels nearing 40% inside the mine and the...

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