MARSHALL COUNTY, WV MINE EXPLOSION - Three Dead, Three Injured, Sheriff Deputies Perform Rescue

(01/23/2003)

The Marshall County, WV Sheriff's Department has released the names of victims of a Thursday morning explosion in an air shaft being dug for a Cameron area mine. Three men were killed, and three others were injured. The dead are identified as David Abel, 47 of Belmont, Ohio; Richard Mount, 37 of Shadyside, Ohio; Harry Roush III, 23 of Clover, Pennsylvania. The miners were employees of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania's Central Cambria Drilling Company. The company was contracted to dig the air shaft for Consol Energy's McElroy Mine. The three injured men were rescued within an hour of the explosion, which occurred at about 1 a.m. The men were about 940 feet under ground. Richard Brumley, 51 of Waynesburg, PA, and Benjamin Bair, 23 of Pentress, WV are being treated at a Pittsburgh hospital. Aaron Meyer, 28 of Moundsville was treated and released from a Glen Dale, WV hospital. The explosion is believed to have been caused by methane gas. Reports say, emergency responders were reluctant to enter the shaft because they lacked proper training. Responders wanted to wait for a mine rescue team, but Sheriff's Deputies, Brent Wharry and Steve Cook made descent into the shaft in a five foot bucket attached to a crane, found the injured workers and pulled them to safety.

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