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The Upper Big Branch Mine disaster occurred on April 5, 2010 roughly underground in Raleigh County, West Virginia at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine located in Montcoal. Twenty-nine out of thirty-one miners at the site were killed. The coal dust explosion occurred at 3:27 pm.〔U.S. Department of Labor – Mine Safety and Health Administration, (103(k) Order for Performance Coal Company Upper Big Branch Mine-South ). April 5, 2010. Retrieved April 6, 2010.〕 The accident was the worst in the United States since 1970, when 38 miners were killed at Finley Coal Company's No. 15 and 16 mines in Hyden, Kentucky.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Finley Coal Company Explosion )〕 A state funded independent investigation would later find Massey Energy directly responsible for the blast.〔http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/96334/upperbigbranchreport.pdf〕 The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released its final report on December 6, 2011, concluding that flagrant safety violations contributed to the explosion. It issued 369 citations at that time, assessing $10.8 million in penalties.〔 Alpha Natural Resources, which had bought Massey Energy in 2011, settled its corporate criminal liabilities with the U.S. Attorney for $209 million.〔 Investigation of possible personal criminal liability continues,〔 with one former superintendent, Gary May, pleading guilty in March 2012, and "confess() to conspiring to 'impede the ()'s enforcement efforts'". In April 2012, Coal producer Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (ANR) (the then current owner) said it will permanently close its Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia. ==Explosion== The explosion occurred at 3:27 pm local time (19:27 UTC) on Monday, April 5, 2010, at the Upper Big Branch South Mine near the community of Montcoal, about south of Charleston. The mine was operated by the Performance Coal Company, a subsidiary of Massey Energy.〔 The explosion ignited from an unknown source with high methane levels being a contributing causal factor. Twenty-five men were initially identified as killed.〔 〕 Four days later, four missing men were found dead for a total of 29 deaths. Investigators later faulted Massey Energy for failure to properly maintain its ventilation systems which allowed methane levels to increase to dangerous amounts.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Upper Big Branch Mine disaster」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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