Dotsie, I'm not sure that there are anymore than there ever, but maybe with such mass media coverage we just hear about them now. I'm with everyone else here, I can't even imagine this kind of work. I heard a blip on the news the other day that when the initial collapse happened the miners were "retreat mining", which is the most dangerous and deadly. I googled and found an article:

Retreat mining is where pillars of coal are used to hold up an area of the mine's roof. When that area is completely mined, the company pulls the pillar and grabs the useful coal, causing an internal collapse.

(As they do this they apparently back out and repeat the process until all the coal is mined.)

A former mine official says it's the most dangerous kind of mining there is.

A federal report says that a coal miner on a pillar recovery section is more than 3 times as likely to be killed in a roof collapse than workers in other parts of the mine.

Between 1992 and 2001 according to a report, 100 miners died in roof collapses, 27 of those deaths happened during retreat mining.

On a personal note, God Bless those rescuers who died trying to rescue their fellow workers and all the others who are still trying.