Lawsuit: Massey employees ignored seven injured miners

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The wife of a miner killed in an April 2010 blast inside Massey Energy Co.'s Upper Big Branch mine contends that several men on their way out initially survived but died after two company employees, who spent hours underground after the blast, walked past them without rendering aid, according to a Boone County, W.Va., lawsuit filed against Massey and the two employees.

Massey officials denied the charges.

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The lawsuit says Upper Big Branch management employees Christopher Blanchard and Jason Whitehead came across a survivor administering first aid to seven miners on a mantrip, which transports miners to and from the longwall, 2 miles from where the blast originated.

The surviving miner asked for help, but Blanchard and Whitehead chose instead to travel deeper into the mine "for reasons that remain unknown," the suit states.





Read more: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_730554.html

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William Roosevelt Lynch was one of seven miners exiting the mine on a mantrip when the explosion occurred. The lawsuit alleges that Carl Acord, Benny Willingham, Robert Clark, Jason Atkins, Steven Harrah, Deward Scott and Lynch were not immediately killed by the initial explosion.

“Upon information and belief, William Roosevelt Lynch, and other miners riding on the mantrip vehicle, did not perish instantly from the explosion originating near the longwall face,” the lawsuit states.

According to the filing, Lynch was 2 miles away from the initial source of the explosion.

The lawsuit also states another miner had tried to “deploy self-contained, self-respirators” to assist breathing and attempted to render aid to Lynch and the other miners.

http://www.register-herald.com/todaysfrontpage/x1281099406/Lawsuit-Not-all-UBB-victims-died-in-initial-blast

[midnight]

1. I wish OSHA was as well funded as the chamber....

[juxtaposed]

2. MSHA

[groundloop]

3. I recall reports that company men were busy hiding evidence of disconnected safety devices

Could that be why they were going into the mine, and why they didn't have time to help the injured miners? I certainly hope there's enough evidence for this suit to proceed, I imagine it's going to be tough fighting the company on their own turf.