ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 18, 1995                   TAG: 9505190039
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KIMBERLY D. DAVIS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MINE BLAST CASE SETTLED

A federal judge in Roanoke Wednesday ordered that a coal company whose negligence led to a mine explosion that killed eight miners pay a seven-figure fine and set up a trust fund for the miners' families.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Wilson approved the settlement offer by Southmountain Coal Co.'s parent company, Apple Coal. The company will pay $1.1 million in fines and set up a $900,000 educational trust fund for the miners' dependents.

In the original settlement offer, Apple Coal agreed to pay $800,000 into the trust fund.

The December 1992 explosion in the Wise County mine occurred when methane gas was ignited by a cigarette lighter carried into the mine by one of the workers.

Southmountain admitted that its mine foreman did not carry out required weekly searches of employees for smoking materials. The company also failed to follow federal ventilation guidelines, which the government said was the primary cause of the explosion. 


 by CNB