Massey chief exec says company will pay for funerals of miners killed in W.Va. explosion

Massey chief: company to pay for miners’ funerals

MONTCOAL, W.Va. — Massey Energy chief executive Don Blankenship says the company will pay for the funerals of victims killed in a West Virginia coal mine explosion.

Blankenship told The Associated Press on Thursday that he spent 17 hours with miners’ families a day earlier. The blast killed 25 people and four miners are still missing. Two survived and were hospitalized.

Blankenship says the families are very concerned and worried, but that they are “good people.”

He has also been using Twitter to dispense information, though he says he doesn’t read tweets.

Blankenship’s mine has been criticized for safety violations and putting profits ahead of human lives. He has disputed the accusations.