By Associated Press
Tulsa, OK – PROVIDENCE, Ky. (AP) Two miners are missing and rescuers were unable to contact them after a roof collapsed in a large underground coal mine in western Kentucky.
The mine is owned by Tulsa-based Alliance Resource Partners. The company's website says it purchased the mine in 1971 and produces high-sulfur coal there.
The company primarily sells coal to electric utilities.
Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing spokeswoman Ricki Gardenhire says rescue crews are in the mine and hoping to find the miners alive. Gardenhire says a section of roof gave way some 24,000 feet underground in the Dotiki (doh-TEE'-kee) Mine about 10 p.m. Wednesday.
United Mine Workers Union representative Tim Miller says the Dotiki Mine is a large operation that employs more than 300 miners.