|
 BUCKHANNON, W.Va. (AP) - One or more lightning strikes likely caused an electrical current in a cable left deep inside the Sago Mine and touched off the methane blast blamed for the deaths of 12 coal miners last year, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said Wednesday.
Lightning is one of three "root causes" the agency cites in its long-awaited investigation into the Jan. 2, 2006, explosion.
Lightning had been suspected from the start, but the report for the first time describes its likely path, saying an electrical current traveled through the earth to the 1,300-foot-long cable. Previous reports by the state and the mine's owner, International Coal Group, Inc., mentioned lightning but not its route.
|
|