Officials with the Mine Safety and Health Administration were testing air samples atop Montcoal mountain.
MONTCOAL, W.VA. (AP) -- A Massey Energy executive says federal officials are testing air drawn from a hole drilled into a West Virginia mine where rescuers are trying to reach four missing miners.
Massey vice president Mike Snelling told The Associated Press on Wednesday that officials with the Mine Safety and Health Administration were testing air samples atop Montcoal mountain.
Jama Jarrett, a spokeswoman for the state's mining agency, says rescue teams won't be allowed to return to the mine until methane gas levels drop out of the explosion range.
Federal officials ordered rescue crews out of Massey's Upper Big Branch mine early Tuesday morning when they measured dangerous methane levels.
Twenty-five miners were killed in the Monday explosion. Two remain hospitalized.
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