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Clinchfield Coal Company
Clinchfield No. 2 Mine Roof Fall Disaster

Dante, Russell County, Virginia
May 20, 1948
No. Killed - 6

USBM Final Investigation Report  (1.3 Mb)  PDF Format

See more Clinchfield Coal Company Disasters:   Compass No. 2 Mine Explosion, Apr. 25, 1963
Mars No. 2 Mine Fire, Oct. 16, 1965
Moss No. 3 Portal A Mine Inundation, Apr. 4, 1978
McClure No. 1 Mine Explosion, June 21, 1983


Mine Explosion Kill Six
Bluefield Daily Telegraph, West Virginia
May 21, 1948

Dante, Va., May 20 (AP) -- Six miners were killed and four others injured in an explosion in the No. 2 mine of the Clinchfield Coal Company here tonight about 11:15 p.m. (EST), mine officials reported.

Dispatcher J. M. Smith of the No. 2 mine attributed the blast to a sudden displacement of weight caused by a too-heavy excavation of coal.  He said no explosion of gas was involved.

The blast occurred in corridor 19-L, which Smith said was between 3½ and 4 miles underground in the mine.

The six who were killed, he said, were named:
  • Vickers
  • Parks
  • Creger
  • Rasnick
  • Phillips
  • Artrip
He did not know their first names.

The four who were hurt, Smith stated, were named:
  • Hardy
  • Powers
  • Phillips
  • Phillips
All were from the Dante region.

The foreman on the section, he said, was Joe Rasnick, whom Smith believed was the father of one of the miners who was killed.

All of the miners were "buried alive," he said.

The mine is located in Russell County in southwest Virginia.




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