I know it's traditional to ignore energy deaths that are not attributable to nuclear operations, but I, of course, have chosen to dissent from that tradition.
Today twenty people, soon to be forgotten forever, were killed in Russian coal mines. From CNN:
Twenty dead in Russia mine blast
Saturday, April 10, 2004 Posted: 10:29 AM EDT (1429 GMT)
Moscow, Russia -- A gas explosion at a Siberian colliery has killed 20 miners and rescue teams combed a vast shaft for 27 others missing underground, officials in the region said.
A spokesman for Siberia's Kemerovo district -- heart of the Kuzbass coalfield where accidents are a regular occurrence -- said rescuers had brought 20 bodies to the surface more than 12 hours after the accident.
...
Regional emergency department spokesman Valery Kovchagin told Ekho Moskvy radio that four of the 13 survivors were hospitalized with moderate injuries and burns, but the duty officer said later that only two miners remained hospitalized....
...Russia's coal mines are plagued by accidents generally blamed on lax operating procedures and ageing equipment...
...A methane explosion killed five miners at a Kemerovo region in January, and an investigation indicated a methane blast -- possibly sparked by a short circuit -- caused a ceiling collapse that killed 12 workers at another mine in the region last June...
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/04/10/russia.mine/index.html