Blast Traps 26 Coal Miners in Nova Scotia

Rescue crews using drills and heavy equipment struggled to reach 26 coal miners buried half a mile underground after an explosion Saturday.

Relatives of the trapped men gathered nearby to await news.

The blast occurred shortly after 5:30 a.m. during a shift change at the Westray mine in Nova Scotia, about 75 miles north of Halifax. Some workers made it to the surface before the blast, which shook houses more than half a mile away, said Ivan Baker, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police constable.

The cause of the blast was not immediately known, Labor Minister Leroy Legere said.

“I felt the shock, the windows rattled. I knew right away it had to be the mine,” said Marshall Doyle, whose 27-year-old son, Robbie, was among those trapped. “You always live with the possibility that something like this is going to happen.”

There was no immediate way of knowing the condition of the workers underground, Baker said. Reports from officials at the site indicated there was no power or ventilation in the mine. But attempts were being made to pump oxygen to the trapped men.

The privately owned mine was built in 1990 to supply coal to the province’s power utility, Nova Scotia Power. In November, Toronto-based Curragh Resources announced it was putting the mine up for sale to raise cash for its other operations. It employs 225 people, including 101 miners.

The worst mine disaster in the region occurred in the Allan Shaft in neighboring Stellarton in 1918 when 88 miners were killed after an explosion. Sixty men died in the Drummond Colliery in Westville in 1872, and 44 people were killed in the Foord Pit in Stellarton in 1880.