12 dead in WV mine; 1 survivor

[MiamiensisWx]

So... instead, they led the families and the world to believe for THREE hours that all were alive?

I agree. It should have been handled better. The key word is "alive". They could have said they found the 12 miners but that they were not sure if they were alive or not.

[alicia-w]

it is very sad. regardless of what should have been said or not, there are some grieving folks out there today. My heart goes out to them. We cant change what's already happened.

with all the technology out there these days, why arent robots doing things like mining?

[TexasStooge]

Miners 'waited to be rescued'

TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) -- Most of the 13 coal miners trapped in an explosion survived the blast itself, retreated deeper into the mine and hung up a curtain-like barrier to keep out toxic gases while they waited to be rescued, officials said Wednesday. All but one were found dead after more than a day and a half.

The miners' families learned of the 12 deaths after a harrowing night in which they were mistakenly told at first that 12 of the men were alive. It took three hours before the families were told the truth, and their joy turned instantly to fury.

The sole survivor, Randal McCloy, was in critical condition with a collapsed lung and dehydration but no sign of brain damage or carbon monoxide poisoning after being trapped for more than 42 hours, a doctor said. At 27, McCloy was one of the youngest in the group.

The last of the 12 bodies were taken out of the mine at midmorning.

One of the dead was found at least 700 feet from where the others had barricaded themselves in the maze-like mine, officials said. Ben Hatfield, chief executive of mine owner International Coal Group, said the miner was apparently killed by the force of the blast.

The cause of death for the other men was not immediately disclosed. But McCoy and the 11 others did as they were trained to do, and huddled behind a fabric barrier they had set up to keep out carbon monoxide gas, which had been detected in deadly concentrations inside the mine, Hatfield and state officials said.

The fabric -- designed specifically for use as a gas barrier in an accident -- was stretched across an area about 20 feet wide, Hatfield said.

Also, each of the miners in the barricaded area had a breathing apparatus that purifies the air and had been able to use it, according to mine officials.

How long they survived was not immediately disclosed. But on Tuesday morning, rescuers drilled a narrow hole near the spot and got no response when they banged on a steel pipe and listened for an answer.

It was the nation's deadliest coal mining disaster in more than four years.

The devastating information about the dead shocked and angered family members, who had rejoiced with Gov. Joe Manchin hours earlier when word spread that 12 miners were alive. Bystanders applauded as they saw McCloy brought from the mine early Wednesday, not realizing he would be the only one to make it out alive.

"I can only say there was no one who did anything intentionally other than risk their lives to save their loved ones," Manchin told ABC's "Good Morning America."

"No one can say anything about that would make anything any better," he said. "Just a horrible situation."

McCloy was reported to be unconscious but moaning when he arrived at the hospital. He was in the intensive care unit at West Virginia University's Ruby Memory Hospital at Morgantown. Doctors said he was under sedation and on a ventilator to help with his breathing.

"He responds to stimuli and that's good," Dr. Lawrence Roberts said. Most of the other miners were in their 50s, and doctors said McCloy's youth may have helped him survive.

Charles Green, McCloy's father-in-law, told ABC that when he found out his son-in law was the only survivor, "I was still devastated. My whole family's heart goes out to them other families."

President Bush said the entire nation mourns the loss, and he saluted the rescuers "who risked their lives to save those miners for showing such courage."

The miners had been trapped 260 feet down since Monday morning in the Sago Mine, which is shaped like a large backward "F" and situated about 100 miles northeast of Charleston. As rescue workers tried to reach the men, families waited at the Sago Baptist Church during a grueling vigil.

The cause of the blast remained under investigation. But coal mine explosions are typically caused by buildups of naturally occurring methane gas or highly combustible coal dust in the air.

But late Tuesday night, families began streaming out of the church, yelling "They're alive!" The church bells began ringing and families embraced, as politicians proclaimed word of the apparent rescue a miracle. The governor was among those who announced there were 12 survivors.

Hatfield blamed the wrong information on a "miscommunication." The news spread after people overheard cell phone calls, he said. In reality, rescuers had only confirmed finding 12 miners and were checking their vital signs. At least two family members in the church said they received cell phone calls from a mine foreman.

"That information spread like wildfire, because it had come from the command center," he said.

Hatfield said it became clear within 20 minutes that the news was terribly wrong. But he said families were not told of the mistake until three hours later because officials wanted to have all the information right first.

"Let's put this in perspective. Who do I tell not to celebrate? I didn't know if there were 12 or one" alive, the executive said.

When the bad news was delivered to the families, "there was no apology. There was no nothing. It was immediately out the door," said Nick Helms, son of miner Terry Helms, one of the dead.

Chaos broke out in the church and a fight started. About a dozen state troopers and a SWAT team were positioned along the road near the church because police were concerned about violence. Witnesses said one man had to be wrestled to the ground when he lunged for mining officials.

A hole drilled into the mine nearby earlier during the ordeal found deadly levels of carbon monoxide, a byproduct of combustion. The odorless, colorless gas can be lethal at high doses. At lower levels, it can cause headaches, dizziness, disorientation, nausea, fatigue and brain damage.

The explosion was West Virginia's deadliest coal mining accident since 1968, when 78 men -- including Manchin's uncle -- died in an explosion at a mine in Marion County, an hour's drive from here. Nineteen bodies remain entombed in the mountain. It was that disaster that prompted Congress to pass the Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969.

It was the nation's worst coal mining disaster since a pair of explosions tore through a mine in Brookwood, Ala., on Sept. 23, 2001, killing 13.

Federal Labor Department officials promised an investigation. Acting Assistant Secretary David Dye, who heads the Mine Safety and Health Administration, said it will include "how emergency information was relayed about the trapped miners' conditions."

Manchin, who had earlier said that the state believed in miracles, tried to focus on the news that one had survived.

"We're clinging to one miracle when we were hoping for 13," he said.

[JQ Public]

here a screenshot of cnn.com when it happened.

[Tstormwatcher]

It was such a sad situation. I relly hope they hold the owners and exec. accountable for the deaths.

[Skywatch_NC]

Surviving Miner In A Coma, But Improving

POSTED: 12:29 pm EST January 5, 2006
UPDATED: 12:29 pm EST January 5, 2006

SIMPSON, W.Va. -- The lone survivor of a coal mine explosion that killed 12 others was in a coma Thursday but showed some encouraging signs overnight, his doctor said.

Randal McCloy Jr., 26, was struggling with the effects of oxygen deprivation to his vital organs, including his brain, Dr. Lawrence Roberts said on ABC's "Good Morning America." Only time will tell how much he recovers, he said.

Doctors said dialysis was performed to continue to filter his blood, and his heart gained strength.

Dr. John Prescott said doctors cannot explain exactly why McCloy went into a coma but noted, "For an individual like him, who's gone through this really multi-organ assault, this is not what we consider unusual."

McCloy was rescued early Wednesday after being trapped in the Sago Mine near Tallmansville for more than 42 hours. Twelve other miners died. He remained in critical condition Thursday at West Virginia University's Ruby Memorial Hospital.

Roberts had reported Wednesday that McCloy was able to squeeze the hand of his wife, Anna. But on Thursday, he said no hospital staffers had witnessed any similar movement.

"I'm not disputing it by any means, but we've just not been able to demonstrate that today," Roberts told ABC. "He obviously has not awakened. He's in a coma."

Roberts said a variety of doctors have seen him and believe he suffered a mild brain injury as a result of oxygen deprivation. "I think time will tell to what extent he recovers from this," he said.

Relatives called McCloy a quiet family man who would likely cringe at his status as the "miracle miner." They said he did not like working in the mines but stuck it out for three years because it enabled him to provide for his wife and two children, 4-year-old Randal III and 1-year-old Isabel.

"I know he was fighting to stay alive for his family because his family was his No. 1 priority," said Rick McGee, McCloy's brother-in-law and a fellow miner who lives next door to McCloy in this small town about 35 miles southeast of Morgantown.

He was the youngest of the 13 miners. Most of the others were in their 50s, and doctors said his youth and health may have helped him.

"When most people are drinking pop, he's drinking milk and juice. He's in good shape. That had to have helped him," said McGee, who has known McCloy for 12 years and coached two of his brothers in baseball.

McGee says McCloy likes to pass the time walking in the woods looking for deer.

"He is a typical guy _ liked hunting, fishing, sports, fast cars," McGee said.

Ben Hatfield, president and CEO of International Coal Group, which owns the mine, guessed that McCoy may have been deeper in a barricaded area that he and 11 other miners created after the explosion early Monday, and therefore further from toxic gases. The 13th miner died in another location.

Anna McCloy, looking pale and exhausted, attended a news conference at the hospital Wednesday but did not answer questions.

"Just ask everybody to keep on praying," she said.

http://www.wral.com/news/5860288/detail.html

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press.

[Stephanie]

Thanks for the update Eric!

[TexasStooge]

Notes: Miners 'were just going to sleep'

TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) - Some of the 12 coal miners who died following an explosion left notes behind assuring family members that their final hours trapped underground were not spent in agony, a relative said Thursday.

"The notes said they weren't suffering, they were just going to sleep," said Peggy Cohen, who had been called to a makeshift morgue at a school to identify the body of her father, 59-year-old mining machine operator Fred Ware Jr.

Cohen said a note was not left with Ware's body, but that she planned to retrieve his personal belongings later Thursday to see if he left one in his lunch box. But she said the medical examiner told her notes left with several of the bodies all carried a similar message: "Your dad didn't suffer."

Ware was among a dozen miners who were found after 41 hours inside the mine. They were found at the deepest point of the Sago Mine, about 21/2 miles from the entrance, behind a fibrous plastic cloth stretched across an area about 20 feet wide to keep out deadly carbon monoxide gas.

Cohen said her father had the peaceful look of someone who died from carbon monoxide, and the only mark on his body was a bruise on his chest. "It comforts me to know he didn't suffer and he wasn't bruised or crushed. I didn't need a note. I think I needed to visualize and see him."

The sole survivor, 26-year-old Randal McCloy, remained in critical condition in a coma in a Morgantown hospital Thursday with a collapsed lung, dehydration and other problems.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Joe Manchin said autopsies on the dead should be completed either late Thursday or early Friday, and his office indicated that if the families want him there, he would attend all the funerals.

Families of the victims are considering legal action, said Amber Helms, whose father, fire boss Terry Helms, was among those killed.

"It's the biggest thing that's going to happen after these miners are put to rest," she said Thursday on NBC's "Today."

In other developments, federal and state investigators were at the mine Thursday seeking a cause for Monday's explosion. Coal mine explosions are typically caused by buildups of naturally occurring methane gas or highly combustible coal dust in the air, but what exactly triggered that explosion remained unclear.

The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette reported Thursday that a federal contractor that monitors thunderstorms detected three lightning strikes within five miles of the Sago mine within a half hour of Monday's explosions. The contractor, Vaisala Inc., said two of the strikes, including one that was four to 10 times stronger than average, hit within 11/2 miles of the mine.

David Dye, who heads the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said that in addition to the cause, investigation will also probe "how emergency information was relayed about the trapped miners' conditions."

Just before midnight Tuesday, families received word that 12 miners were alive. Bells at the church pealed and politicians proclaimed the rescue a miracle before the truth emerged three hours later. At that point, the families' joy turned instantly to fury, with one man lunging at coal company officials.

Ben Hatfield, chief executive of mine owner International Coal Group Inc., said that the Ashland, Ky.-based company did the best it could under extreme stress and exhaustion, and that officials "sincerely regret" the families were left to believe for so long that their loved ones were alive.

"In the process of being cautious, we allowed the jubilation to go on longer than it should have," a choked-up Hatfield said.

He said the initial mistake resulted from a miscommunication among the rescue crews. Another ICG executive, vice president Gene Kitts, suggested the misunderstanding resulted because the rescuers who reached the victims were wearing full-face oxygen masks and used radios to report their findings to their base.

One of the dead was discovered several hundred feet from where the others had barricaded themselves in the maze-like mine. Hatfield said that miner, found near a belt used to move coal to the surface, was apparently killed by the force of the blast.

As for the other group of a dozen miners, ICG's Kitts said the rescuers realized McCloy was alive when they heard him moan, and he may have been the farthest away from the bad air. Doctors said McCloy's youth may also have helped him survive; most of the other miners were in their 50s.

A fund to provide financial support to the miners' families has been established by ICG with an initial contribution of $2 million, company Chairman Wilbur L. Ross said Wednesday.

"No amount of money can take the place of a loved one," he said in a statement, "but the families do have financial needs as well."

The explosion was West Virginia's deadliest coal mining accident since 1968, when 78 men died in an explosion at a mine in Marion County, an hour's drive from here. That disaster prompted Congress to pass the Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969.

Sago was the nation's worst coal mining disaster since a pair of explosions tore through a mine in Brookwood, Ala., on Sept. 23, 2001, killing 13.

At a vigil attended by about 200 people in Sago on Wednesday night, the Rev. Wease Day said the days ahead will bring funerals and mourning for the victims, but insisted they must also include a celebration of the lives that were lost. He spoke specifically of Ware, a fellow parishioner who lived across the road from the church and was so good-natured he didn't mind being awakened to be asked to help with sanctuary repairs.

"We need to be sad. We need to pray for the families," Day said, "but we also need to be joyous."

[Pburgh]

Alice, it's my understanding that they did send in a robot but it became bogged down in mud.

[Skywatch_NC]

Mine Survivor May Have Brain Damage

POSTED: 1:36 pm EST January 5, 2006
UPDATED: 1:36 pm EST January 5, 2006

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The lone survivor of a coal mine explosion that killed 12 others was in a coma Thursday and may have brain damage, his doctor said.

Randal McCloy Jr., 26, remained in critical condition and was struggling with the effects of oxygen deprivation to his vital organs, including his brain, Dr. John Prescott told reporters at West Virginia University's Ruby Memorial Hospital.

Prescott said McCloy's coma was not medically induced and that drugs initially used to sedate him were wearing off, but "he is not waking up as we had hoped he would do."

"We do believe there has been some injury at this point to the brain," Prescott said.

Doctors performed a brain-function test Thursday morning but did not have the results back, Prescott said. It was too early to tell how well McCloy's brain will recover, Prescott said.

McCloy's collapsed lung was reinflated and functioning, but he remained on a respirator, Prescott said. He also had kidney problems, likely from staying in one position for too long, and liver troubles, from lack of fluids.

McCloy was rescued early Wednesday after being trapped in the Sago Mine near Tallmansville for more than 42 hours. A dozen other miners died.

Relatives called McCloy, who lives in Simpson, a quiet family man who would likely cringe at his status as the "miracle miner." They said he did not like working in the mines but stuck it out for three years because it enabled him to provide for his wife and two children, 4-year-old Randal III and 1-year-old Isabel.

"I know he was fighting to stay alive for his family because his family was his No. 1 priority," said Rick McGee, McCloy's brother-in-law and a fellow miner who lives next door to McCloy in this small town about 35 miles southeast of Morgantown.

He was the youngest of the 13 miners. Most of the others were in their 50s, and doctors said his youth and health may have helped him.

"When most people are drinking pop, he's drinking milk and juice. He's in good shape. That had to have helped him," said McGee, who has known McCloy for 12 years and coached two of his brothers in baseball.

McGee says McCloy likes to pass the time walking in the woods looking for deer.

"He is a typical guy _ liked hunting, fishing, sports, fast cars," McGee said.

Ben Hatfield, president and CEO of International Coal Group, which owns the mine, guessed that McCoy may have been deeper in a barricaded area that he and 11 other miners created after the explosion early Monday, and therefore further from toxic gases. The 13th miner died in another location.

Anna McCloy, looking pale and exhausted, attended a news conference at the hospital Wednesday but did not answer questions.

"Just ask everybody to keep on praying," she said.

___

Associated Press writer Daniel Lovering in Simpson, W.Va., contributed to this report.

http://www.wral.com/news/5865287/detail.html

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press.

[HurryKane]

And, robots put people out of work. It's dangerous work but for some it might be the only job they can get. There'd probably be a large hue and cry from current coal miners if they were to be replaced by robots.

[Brent]

The surviving miner has taken a turn for the worse... he's been taken to a hospital in Pittsburgh for Oxygen treatment. Officials believe he has suffered brain damage.

[TexasStooge]

See why it pays to fix the countless violations they're slammed with? Or did they pocket the repair money to make purchases on themselves?

[HurryKane]

From Yahoo: http://tinyurl.com/7uvo7

This part breaks my heart--

"Tell all I'll see them on the other side," read the note found with the body of 51-year-old mine foreman Martin Toler Jr. "It wasn't bad. I just went to sleep. I love you Jr."

[Pburgh]

Ruby Memorial didn't have a hyperbaric chamber. That's why they brought Mr. McCloy here to Allegheny General. This chamber can hopefully clear any remaining carbon monoxide from his body.

[gtalum]

See why it pays to fix the countless violations they're slammed with? Or did they pocket the repair money to make purchases on themselves?

Keep in mind that the current ownership has only run the mine since November 21. They had corrected the vast majority of the violations. Unfortunately, it takes time to turn around a big operation like that.