{Beckley, West Virginia}...The state Office of Miner's Health, Safety, and Training released its findings of its probe into the April 5, 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine explosion to family members of the UBB victims Thursday morning in Beckley. State officials agree a spark at the face ignited a pocket of methane, and most agree the spark came when the teeth of the longwall cutting shearer struck rock in the face. The state's final report leaves open the slim chance those sparks could have been caused by falling rock. The methane, according to the state report, likely leaked out from the face and cracks in the mine floor. The state's investigation rejects the suggestion by Massey Energy that there was a sudden and large influx of methane all at once which was impossible to detect. The state report agrees with the findings of federal investigators, the UMWA, and the governor's independent panel that once the flash from the ignited methane reached coal dust in the mine's atmosphere the blast spread rapidly and violently to every corner of the mine, fueled by the uncollected coal on the ground and dust in the air. The state's report says foremen Ricky J. Foster and Terry W. Moore repeatedly failed to clean conveyor belts and apply rock dust to certain areas in the mine from December 2009 until the explosion.
