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Pennsylvania mining fatalities

(CNN) -- Mining is the most dangerous industry in the United States, with 30 of every 100,000 miners dying each year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Sixteen miners have died in 15 incidents since 1995 in Pennsylvania alone.

Below is a list of those 15 incidents, and a summary of two historical disasters, from the state's Department of Environmental Protection.

2002

May 11, 2002

Mine No. 84
Eighty-Four Mining Company
Washington County
Electrocution

2001

June 27, 2001

Solar #7 Mine
Genesis, Inc.
Hooversville, Somerset County
Roof fall

2000

October 29, 2000

Bailey Mine
Consolidation Coal Company
West Finley, Greene County
Machinery-laceration

1999

December 22, 1999

DiAnne Mine
Canterbury Coal Co.
Avonmore, Armstrong County
Roof fall

1998

July 16, 1998

Tracey Slope Mine
Summit Anthracite, Inc.
Goodspring, Schuylkill County
Explosion

1997

July 15, 1997

Sarah Mine
Penn Coal Company
Somerset County
Cave in

July 1, 1997

Maple Creek Mine
Maple Creek Mining, Inc.
Bentleyville, Washington County
Wall dislodged

March 28, 1997

Mine No. 84
Eighty-Four Mining Company
Washington County
Crushed by machinery

February 7, 1997

Bailey Mine
Consolidation Coal Company
Graysville, Greene County
Crushed by machinery

1996

April 10, 1996

Cumberland Mine
Greene County
Struck by machinery

October 26, 1996

Maple Creek Mine
Maple Creek Mining Company
Washington County
Crushed by machinery

1995

March 30, 1995

Primrose Slope
Primrose Coal Company
Schuylkill County
Electrocution

April 28, 1995

Allegheny Tunnel
Gallitzin, Cambria County
Crushed by falling rock

June 17, 1995

Mathies Mine
NonView Mining Company
Washington County
Crushed by machinery

July 25, 1995

Two fatalities
No. 4 Vein Slope
L. V. Coal Company
Schuylkill County
Rib fall

In January of 1959, 12 men died in an accident at the Knox mine near Pittston, Pennsylvania. The mine had been illegally excavated under the Susquehanna River, and when the ice-filled waterway broke through a thin layer of rock, more than 10 billion gallons of water flowed into the mine. The disaster brought about the end of deep mining in much of Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley.

The biggest mining disaster in Pennsylvania history in terms of number of deaths occurred at the Darr Mine in Rostraver Township, Westmoreland County, on December 19, 1907. An explosion claimed 239 lives. The explosion was presumed to have occurred in an area that had been cordoned off, but a group of miners had entered anyway carrying open lamps. The company had permitted the use of open lamps in the mine, a practice it abandoned after the horrible events at the Darr Mine.