Layoffs hit southern Illinois coal mine

GALATIA -- The owner of a southern Illinois coal mine says it's laying off 187 workers because of what it calls "sudden, unforeseeable circumstances and physical calamities."

American Coal Company says affected workers at the New Future Mine in Galatia were told of the layoffs Friday.

Rob Murray is vice president of American Coal's parent company Murray Energy. He says the "physical calamities" are "operational in nature from a mining engineering and geological standpoint." He says they're beyond the company's control.

The layoffs came one day after a Congressional committee's chairman asked federal prosecutors to investigate last year's deadly collapse at a mine in Utah at least partly owned by a Murray Energy subsidiary.