MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va., June 7 (UPI) -- A drill crew tapped into an old coal mine in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle Monday, igniting a methane gas blast that injured seven people, officials said.
The Wheeling News-Register reported officials were investigating the 1:15 a.m. accident that also closed a portion of U.S. 250 for a time. The newspaper said the crew had been working into the night and drilled through the abandoned mine owned by Consol Energy.
Marshall County Chief Deputy Kevin Cecil said the workers had little time to react.
"We know there were six workers on the well when they started to hear what the men described as a rumbling," Cecil said.
The explosion occurred as they tried to flee the area, he said.
Three of the seriously injured workers were taken to a Pittsburgh hospital burn unit, and the other four were transported to a Glen Dale hospital with minor injuries, Cecil told the News-Register.
Efforts to extinguish the ensuing fire and control the gas venting continued through the day.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Marshall County Emergency Services Director Thomas Hart said 20 fire departments were at the scene where flames were flaring 50 feet into the air. Special crews were being sent to cap the well, the newspaper said.
The injured workers were employed by BJ Tubular Services of Houston and Union Drilling, a West Virginia company, the Post-Gazette said.
The well, which had been drilled to a depth of about 1,000 feet, was being developed under permit to AB Resources of Brecksville, Ohio, the operator, but owned by Chief Oil & Gas of Wexford, Pa., based in Dallas, the Post-Gazette said.
The explosion is the second major gas-drilling incident within a week. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Monday ordered EOG Resources of Houston to stop its drilling because of a blowout the company had Thursday at a Clearfield County well. In that case, gas sent a geyser with more than 35,000 gallons of gas and chemical-laden wastewater into nearby woods, officials said.
