Neglect at Kentucky coal mine leads to deaths

On May 20 an explosion in a coal mine in Holmes Mill, Ky., killed five workers. The blast occurred around 1 a.m. as miners worked the late-night maintenance shift.

According to sole survivor Paul Ledford, four of the emergency air packs used by workers malfunctioned.

The mine had been cited for 254 Mine Safety and Health Administration violations since 2001.

The Holmes Mill incident is the latest in a string of coal mine disasters that have claimed more than 30 lives since the start of 2006. Industry analysts and union officials have noticed that the increase in mine fatalities has roughly corresponded with a rise in coal prices nationally.

Joe Main, former safety director for the Mine Workers union, has said fatigue may have played a role in some of the accidents. With the increase in coal prices, many miners have been asked to work 20 and 30 hours of overtime a week as coal operators seek to extract a super surplus value from workers’ labor at a time of increased market demand.

—David Hoskins