Free Republic

MONTCOAL, W.Va. -- Rescue teams had to turn back early today in their third attempt to find four missing miners at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine, after they encountered a large amount of smoke from a fire near the mine's longwall section. The teams found one refuge chamber in the mine that had not been used, but could not reach a second chamber. They will not be able to get to the second refuge chamber within 96 hours of Monday's explosion - the amount of time the chambers are supposed to keep people alive. That would be about 3...

SHANGHAI, China - A gas explosion in a coal mine in China's northeast killed at least 203 miners, the government said Tuesday, in the deadliest such disaster reported since communist rule began in 1949. AFP/File Photo The explosion Monday afternoon at the Sunjiawan mine in Liaoning province also injured 22 miners and trapped 13 underground, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The cause of the blast, which occurred 794 feet underground, was under investigation, it said. China has suffered a string of deadly mining disasters in recent months despite a nationwide safety crackdown. A blast in northern China's Shaanxi province...