How terrible that men are still dying this way, and how terrible for their families. I understand the entire ordeal was made even worse by news trickling out slowly as the bodies were found but not identified. They are are in my thoughts and prayers.

Mining accidents are so horrible. Prayers for all.

Oh, Diana, I am sorry. Obviously, I knew about the accident, but I hadn't realized it was quite so close to you.

These tragedies stand out so much more these days in the UK because they so seldom happen.
We also have drift mines in our Forest of Dean area which produce a low-grade 'smoky' coal. The entrances to the 'drift' always look so make-shift and unsafe.
Heard on the radio this morning that over 3500 miners have died so far this year world-wide.

Below is an interview with an elderly Forest miner who offers 'tours' of his mine.

Here is a link that might be useful: A Forest Miner's Tale

Vee, that is a huge number!
I was so sorry to hear this tragic news.

I'm sorry that I did not pay more attention to this story. What a horrible death for them. My grandfather and other ancestors were coal miners, originating in Wales. They migrated to Pennsylvania to work in the coal mines here. I remember hearing of accidents in the mines as a child.

My family came from a region called "dukestown Sirhowy" (hope I have that right). Is this anywhere nearby?

dedtired, 'Dukestown' is part of the old mining town of Tredegar in the valley of the Sirhowy river not many miles from the scene of the accident 'as the crow flies'.
All that area of S Wales is made up of narrow river valleys that run roughly N-S to the coast between Newport and Swansea where the rich seams of coal were found.
It must have been very beautiful a couple of hundred years ago before the days of heavy industry and now much of the derelict land is being replanted with trees/landscaped etc to hide the scars of mining. Today an area of high unemployment, so probably the miners who died were showing some initiative in working their own small independent mine.
Hope I have got this more-or-less right, Dido.

There was an article in my newspaper this morning about this, saying that there was another death. I'm so sorry to hear about it.

I, of course, live in Kentucky where we have lots of coal mining and have had numbers of accidents and cave-ins over the years. A couple of years ago we were in a small town in the eastern part of the state where we saw a reclaimed mountain top that had a golf course and riding stables on it. (Cynically, it is the home town of a high ranking state politician.) It is surely an improvement on earlier sites where mountain-top removal had just left the land scarred and with nasty run off into the water systems. It's a real problem where we have poverty, land waste, and danger on the one hand and rich coal seams that bring money into needy areas, not to mention the environmental issues, on the other.

Haven't been paying attention to the news the past few days, so your post was the first I heard of it. Such a sad story! So sorry that it happened.

Rosefolly

Diana, I am so sorry to hear the sad outcome.

Very sad outcome: personally, for the familes, and generally for the community - this was originally a mining area. Many of the people (men) I meet were originally miners - before the closure of the mines and the demise of the National Coalboards. It has rained heavily and solidly without let, today.

Dido

I went to one of those closed Welsh mines, now a tourist centre. The guide said he would like to be a miner again. I think the men must be brave to do that kind of work. I felt uncomfortable even in the short time I spent underground and was glad to be out in the open air.