12 killed in US coalmine blast (Second Lead)

WASHINGTON - At least 12 miners have been killed and 10 missing after a blast at a coalmine in the US state of West Virginia.

The blast occurred Monday afternoon at Massey coalmine located near Charleston in West Virginia, Xinhua reported Tuesday.

Kevin Stricklin, an administrator with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said rescuers found five more bodies as they dug into the underground Upper Big Branch mine. He said the search for the 10 missing miners is still on.

Massey Coal CEO Don Blankenship had said earlier that seven miners were dead and 19 missing in the coalmine in Raleigh county, operated by Massey Energy subsidiary Performance Coal Co.

The new bodies were found about 2,000 feet underground. Stricklin said the miners were leaving the mine on a vehicle, which takes them in and out of the long shaft, when the blast occurred.

He said the priority was to get to the possible survivors as soon as possible.

West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller said in a statement Monday that he was working with the state and federal officials to get as much information as possible and was doing all he could to “help make sure all resources are made available for this rescue effort”.

It is reported that the mine has caches of extra oxygen along emergency escape routes. It also has airtight refuge chambers to provide enough air to keep miners alive for four days.

Massey Energy, the fourth largest coal producer in the US, operates 35 underground and 12 surface mines in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia.

Mine deaths are relatively uncommon in the US. Last year, 34 miners were killed on the job, 18 of them died in coalmines.