UK Coal to Pay $1.85M for Miners’ Deaths

A British judge has ordered UK Coal to pay 1.2 million pounds ($1.85 million) following the deaths of four miners in separate incidents.

Britain’s largest mining company admitted health and safety offenses in relation to the deaths of three men at Daw Mill colliery in central England in 2006 and 2007. A fourth died at the now-closed Welbeck Colliery in Nottinghamshire in 2007.

Judge Alistair MacDuff ordered the fines Wednesday at Sheffield Crown Court, saying he would not impose penalties so high it would cripple a company already suffering financial problems.

He fined UK Coal 112,500 pounds for each death and ordered it to pay another 187,500 in costs in each case.