COMFORT, W.Va. — Time stopped five days ago for the families of 29 coal miners killed in the devastating explosion at Upper Big Branch mine.

As thousands waited, hoping for any word someone might have survived Monday’s blast, life in coal country chugged on, men trudging underground day and night to fill the trucks and trains that haul away coal around the clock.

Additional Photos

Mark Aliff, right, and Johnny Sarrett hang a sign in support of coal miners and their families on the front of Aliff’'s barber shop in Rock Creek, W.Va., on Saturday. Aliff was barber to many of the 29 miners who were killed in Monday’'s explosion at Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch mine. The Associated Press

Mining is a way of life here. So is death.

Just miles from where families gathered to wait for news, a peddler of mining gear did brisk business and tired miners covered in coal dust picked up pizzas at the end of their shifts. In the quiet, humble neighborhoods that hug the Big Coal River, the work never stopped.

“When the World Trade Center was bombed, the world didn’t shut down,” said James Lipford, 38, a miner from Seth who was driving to the V-Mart convenience store early Saturday when he heard that the last four bodies had been found deep inside Massey Energy Co.’s mine in Montcoal.

He knew three of those killed and worried all week, but never thought about quitting. After all, he says, coal company shareholders still expect profits. Homeowners expect to be able to turn on their lights with electricity generated by coal. His family expects him to bring home a paycheck so they can buy groceries.

“We go with a heavy heart,” he said, “but you have to go.”

It was the worst U.S. coal mining disaster since 1970, when an explosion killed 38 in Hyden, Ky.

Seven bodies were pulled from Upper Big Branch immediately after Monday’s blast, but dangerous gases forced rescue crews out and it took days for them to get back in. They hoped four miners they had not accounted for might somehow have made it to a refuge chamber stocked with food, water and oxygen, but word came early Saturday that all had been found dead.

Twenty-eight of those killed worked for Virginia-based Massey and one was a contract worker for the company, which has been under scrutiny since the explosion for a string of safety violations at the mine.

CEO Don Blankenship, who was with the families when they learned the miners were dead, has strongly defended the company’s record and disputed accusations from miners that he puts coal profits ahead of safety.

Officials have not said what caused the blast, though they believe high levels of methane gas may have played a role. Massey has been repeatedly cited and fined for problems with the system that vents methane and for allowing combustible dust to build up.

President Obama said Saturday that steps must be taken to make sure such an explosion does not happen again.

“We cannot bring back the men we lost,” he said in a statement. “What we can do, in their memory, is thoroughly investigate this tragedy and demand accountability.”

A team of federal investigators will arrive Monday, but for now the focus is on burying the dead and removing the remaining bodies, a grim process that started Saturday.

Four funerals were held Friday, with more scheduled for the weekend.

Rob Lemon, who works at a mine near Upper Big Branch, thinks about the risks every day. This week has made him think about his wife and daughters, and how it would be for them to live through a disaster like this, waiting a week to learn whether he had lived or died.

“It reminds you of how dangerous it is and it can be,” Lemon said. “But we still all have a job to do.”

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