The Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster, April 5, 2010
April 5, 2012 by Ken Ward Jr.Two years ago this afternoon, a horrific explosion ripped through Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County, W.Va.
Twenty-nine coal miners died and two others were injured.
For many of us, the 2nd anniversary is a time to revisit the disaster, to ask questions about whether enough has been done to prevent another one. All too soon, it will be just another date marked on the long, deadly calendar of this nation’s shameful record of mine explosions, fires and other disasters.
To those who lost loved ones, April 5 will forever be the day that their husband died, the day they became an orphan, the day they lost their son or their best friend. Here’s the list of the miners that so needlessly died that day in the spring of 2010:
Carl Calvin Acord
Jason Atkins
Christopher Bell
Gregory Steven Brock
Kenneth Allan Chapman
Robert E. Clark
Cory Thomas Davis
Charles Timothy Davis
Michael Lee Elswick
William Ildon Griffith
Steven Harrah
Edward Dean Jones
Richard K. Lane
William Roosevelt Lynch
Joe Marcum
Ronald Lee Maynor
Nicholas Darrell McCroskey
James E. “Eddie” Mooney
Adam Keith Morgan
Rex L. Mullins
Joshua Napper
Howard D. Payne
Dillard Earl Persinger
Joel R. Price
Gary Wayne Quarles
Deward Allan Scott
Grover Dale Skeens
Benny Ray Willingham
Ricky Workman