Montcoal
| Montcoal | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Location in West Virginia
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| Basic data | |||
| State : | United States | ||
| State : | West Virginia | ||
| County : | Raleigh County | ||
| Coordinates : | 37 ° 54 ′ N , 81 ° 32 ′ W | ||
| Time zone : | Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 ) | ||
| Height : | 286 m | ||
| FIPS : | 54-55396 | ||
| GNIS ID : | 1555151 | ||
Montcoal is a unincorporated community in Raleigh County in the US state of West Virginia . The place is on West Virginia State Route 3 .
Explosion in the Upper Big Branch Mine
On April 5, 2010, a methane gas explosion occurred in a mine at a depth of 300 m near Montcoal. 25 miners were immediately killed, and later another four missing were found dead. The explosion was the worst in the United States since 1970 and occurred at 3:27 p.m. local time, which is 7:27 p.m. Central European Time. The rescue operation started immediately after the accident became known, initially at the mouth hole near Birchton . In addition, four boreholes were drilled to get to the buried miners who could possibly still be alive, as there are two chambers underground with fresh air supply and survival rations. Eleven bodies were recovered on April 7th, but the search had to be stopped since April 9th because the methane concentration was too high and there was a fire in the mine. On April 9, the last bodies were recovered.