P. M. BRIEFING : Car Bomb, Gunfire Mark Coal Unrest
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two employees at a non-union coal mine were struck by gunfire today in West Virginia, and a car bomb exploded at a coal company’s headquarters in Virginia, authorities said.
Two Hampden Coal Co. employees were replacing windows on a Gilbert mine guard shack when they were hit by shotgun pellets, said state police spokesman Ric Robinson.
One of the workers was struck several times in the face and the other was hit in the shoulder, Robinson said. The unidentified workers were taken to Williamson General Hospital but their conditions were not immediately available, he said. No arrests have been made.
In the Virginia incident, a bomb went off in a car parked at Pittston Coal Group Inc.’s headquarters in Lebanon this morning, said police Sgt. Mike Frank. There were no injuries.
About 1,900 United Mine Workers members went on strike April 5 over a contract dispute against the Pittston company in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. Other union workers began staging sympathy strikes June 12.
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