Though tragedy has struck at a West Virginia coal mine, there are arguments that such events are becoming less common than they used to be in the United States. For an industry that endured at least 1,000 fatalities a year through the 1930s and 1940s, the death toll of 28 in 2004, the latest figure available, underscores the achievement of stricter government oversight and corporate compliance, experts and officials say.
See "In US mines, the safety record has been on an upswing", Mark Clayton, The Christian Science Monitor, January 3, 2006