Montcoal is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

coal town A coal town, also known as a coal camp or patch, is a type of company town or mining community established by the employer, a mining company, which imports workers to the site to work the mineral find. The company develops it and provides residen ...

in Raleigh County,

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, United States. Montcoal is located on

West Virginia Route 3 West Virginia Route 3 is a state highway in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It runs from West Virginia Route 10 in West Hamlin in a general easterly direction via Beckley to West Virginia Route 311 at Sweet Springs, most of the way across t ...

, south of Whitesville.

Coal mine explosion

Montcoal is home to the Performance Coal Company, a division of

Massey Energy Massey Energy Company was a coal extractor in the United States with substantial operations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. By revenue, it was the fourth largest producer of coal in the United States and the largest coal producer in Centr ...

, Inc. On April 5, 2010, at approximately 3 pm, a

methane gas Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ...

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...

killed 29 mine workers, and injured two others.http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/10/west.virginia.mine/index.html CNN News coverage of 2010 mine explosion in Montcoal

References

Unincorporated communities in Raleigh County, West Virginia Unincorporated communities in West Virginia Mining communities in West Virginia Coal towns in West Virginia {{RaleighCountyWV-geo-stub