1/22/2003

Three killed, three injured at Marshall County mine

January 22, 2003 6:52 PM

Cameron

The Marshall County Sheriff's Department has released the names of the victims of this morning's explosion in an air shaft being dug for a Cameron-area mine.

Three men were killed, and another three were injured.

The dead are identified as 47-year-old David Abel of Belmont, Ohio; 37-year-old Richard Mount of Shadyside, Ohio; and 23-year-old Harry Roush the Third of Clover, Pennsylvania.

The men, along with three other workers who were injured in the blast, were employees of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania-based Central Cambria Drilling. The company was contracted to dig the air shaft for Consol Energy's McElroy Mine.

The injured men were rescued within an hour of the explosion, which occurred at about 1 am -- while the men were nearly a-thousand feet underground.

Twenty-eight-year-old Aaron Meyer of Moundsville was treated and released from a Glen Dale hospital. The others: 51-year-old Richard Brumley of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, and 23-year-old Benjamin Bair of Pentress are being treated at a Pittsburgh hospital.

Tests indicate the explosion was caused by methane.