The Mine Explosion at Brookwood Alabama
On September 23rd, 2001 only 12 days after the 9-11 attacks on our nation. Sunday evening several miners were doing idle day work at JWR Mine #5 in Brookwood Alabama, the roof fell in on the battery charging station on a working section of the mine. When the roof fell in on the spare battery it caused a spark which lead to a methane gas ignition. The supervisor and the workers were injured, with one of the workers being trapped by the roof fall. The injured miners were taken out of the mine, and 12 more miners went to that section to help the trapped miner and to put out the fire.  As the 12 miners were rescuing the injured and trapped miner a major explosion happened and took the life of all 13 men.
This is a very small mining community and this tragady really took a tole on this area. I am sharing a link with some of the information and the Miners Memorial that was dedicated on Sept 23rd, 2002