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Crew rushes to get to trapped miners
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-03 10:38
TALLMANSVILLE, West Virginia - A coal mine explosion that may have been
sparked by lightning trapped 13 miners 260 feet below ground Monday, and
rescuers went in to find them after waiting almost 12 agonizing hours for
dangerous gases to clear.
West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin visits
friends and family of the 13 trapped miners Monday evening at Sago Baptist
Church in Tallmansville, West Virginia. [AP] | The
condition of the miners was not immediately known. Four co-workers tried to
reach them but were stopped by a wall of debris, and the blast knocked out the
mine's communication equipment, preventing authorities from contacting the
miners.
It was not known how much air they had or how big a space they were in. The
miners had air-purifying equipment but no oxygen tanks, a co-worker said.
"You just have to hope that the explosions weren't of the magnitude that was
horrific from the beginning," Joe Manchin, governor of the nation's No. 2
coal-producing state, told CNN. He added: "There's always that hope and chance
that they were able to go to part of the mine that still had safe air."
The first of eight search-and-rescue teams entered the Sago Mine, more than
11 hours after the blast trapped the miners. Rescue crews were kept out of the
mine for most of the day while dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide — a
byproduct of combustion — were vented through holes drilled into the ground,
authorities said.
Company officials believe the trapped miners were about two miles inside the
mine, about 260 feet under the ground. The crew entered the mine on foot for
fear of sparking another explosion.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration sent a rescue robot to the
mine, situated about 100 miles northeast of Charleston.
Some 200 co-workers and relatives of those trapped gathered at the Sago
Baptist Church, across the road from the mine.
Anna McCoy said her husband, Randall, 27, was among those missing. She said
he had worked at the mine for three years "but was looking to get out. It was
too dangerous."
Coal mine explosions are typically caused by buildups of naturally occurring
methane gas, and the danger increases in the winter months, when the barometric
pressure can release the odorless, colorless and highly flammable gas.
Manchin spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg said the blast may have been sparked by
lightning from severe thunderstorms.
But Roger Nicholson, general counsel for the mine's owner, International Coal
Group, said that it was not clear what caused the blast and that there was no
indication it was methane-related.
The mine has a single entrance, and the shaft winds its way for miles
underground. The miners were supposed to be working about 160 feet below the
surface, said the wife of one of the trapped men. But it was unclear how far
into the shaft they had gone when the blast struck.
Gene Kitts, a senior vice president at ICG, said the company was preparing to
drill into the mine to reach the miners.
"If the miners are barricaded, as we hope they are, they would prepare
themselves for rescue by rationing," Kitts said. The miners would probably have
only their lunches and water on hand.
"These miners are experienced, they are well-trained," Kitts said. "We are
just praying they had an opportunity to put their training to use."
The miners had three to 30 years of experience working in the mining
industry, Kitts said. The company declined to release their names.
The blast happened between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. as the first shift of miners
entered to resume production following the holiday, Ramsburg said.
"As they were heading in, the car in the back either heard or felt some type
of explosion. They headed back out. The first car never made it back out," she
said.
Thirteen miners were trapped, the coal company said. Four co-workers tried to
reach the missing miners but "came to a wall" of debris, said Steve Milligan,
deputy director of Upshur County's Office of Emergency Management.
Samantha Lewis, whose 28-year-old husband, David, was among those trapped,
said he worked the mines so that he could be home every night to take care of
their three daughters while she worked on a master's degree in health care
administration.
"This was a good way to make a living until we could find something else,"
said Lewis, whose father, grandfather and stepfather also worked in the mines.
"It's just a way of life. Unless you're a coal miner or you have a college
degree, you don't make any money."
Miners who work in the mine carry individual air purifying systems that would
give them up to seven hours of clean air, said Tim McGee, who works at the mine
and was among those at the church. They do not carry oxygen tanks, he said.
"What I want to hear is he is alive, but they can't tell me that," said
Loretta Ables, whose fiancee, 59-year-old Fred Ware Jr., was one of the trapped
miners. "He's worked in this mine for six years. He said that's the way he's
gonna go — in the mines."
Another trapped miner, 61-year-old Jim Bennett, planned to retire this year,
said his son-in-law Daniel Merideth.
"Every day he would come home and pray for who was going in," said Merideth,
who stood outside the mining complex. "Right now, he is probably in there
witnessing to people. He would be organizing and praying."
McGee said the miners would have been heading to a production area that is
about three miles from the mine's opening.
ICG acquired the Sago Mine (pronounced SAY-goh) last March when it bought
Anker West Virginia Mining Co., which had been in bankruptcy. In 2004, the
latest year for which figures are available, the Sago Mine produced about
397,000 tons of coal.
Federal inspectors cited the mine for 46 alleged violations of federal mine
health and safety rules during an 11-week review that ended Dec. 22, according
to records.
The more serious alleged violations, resulting in proposed penalties of at
least $250 each, involved steps for safeguarding against roof falls, and the
mine's plan to control methane and breathable dust. The mine received 208
citations from MSHA during 2005, up from 68 citations in 2004.
The state Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training issued 144 notices of
violation against the mine in 2005, up from 74 the year before.
West Virginia ended 2005 with three mining deaths, the lowest since 2000.
In February 2003, three contract workers were killed by a methane explosion
while drilling an air shaft at a Consol Energy coal mine near Cameron.
In September 2001, 13 coal miners were killed in a series of explosions at a
mine in Broached, Ala. That was the nation's worst mining accident since 1984,
when fire killed 27 coal miners near Orangeville, Utah.
In July 2002, nine coal miners were rescued after being trapped for 77 hours
in a mine near Somerset, Pa.
The deadliest coal mining disaster in U.S. history was an explosion in 1907
in Monongah that killed 362 people.
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