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TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - In a stunning and heartbreaking reversal, family members were told early Wednesday that 12 of 13 trapped coal miners were dead — three hours after they began celebrating news that 12 had survived.
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 by an explosion for more than 42 hours, a doctor said. At 27, McCloy was among the youngest in the group.
The last of the 12 bodies were taken out of the mine at midmorning. The cause of death was not disclosed, but it appeared it was not the blast that killed them.
Officials said the 12 were found together behind a curtain-like fabric barrier they had set up to keep out carbon monoxide gas, which was detected in deadly concentrations inside the mine.
“It’s sorrow beyond belief,” Ben Hatfield, chief executive officer of mine owner International Coal Group, said during a news conference at which the deaths were announced.
“Our nation mourns those who lost their lives,” President Bush said, speaking in Washington.
Gov. Joe Manchin said that, “about the confusion, I can’t tell you of anything more heart-wrenching that I’ve ever gone through in my life. Nothing.”
Mine's grim record
“I can feel the outrage,” he later told NBC’s “Today” show, referring to the anger from the victims’ families. They had received word, the origin of which is still not certain, that 12 had survived only to be told three hours later that 12 had died.
Manchin said the state would investigate the cause of the explosion, the miscommunication and the mine’s numerous safety and health violations last year. “We’re going to look into this,” Manchin vowed.
John Bennett, whose father Jim Bennett was one of the victims and had been due to retire in April, complained that his father would “tell me how unsafe the mine is.”
Problems at the mine had been “going on for months ... and they still send men in,” Bennett told “Today,” adding that he felt that if the mine owner had allowed workers to unionize the violations wouldn’t have happened.
Survivor responds to stimuli
McCloy was transferred to the intensive care unit of West Virginia University’s Ruby Memory Hospital at Morgantown, where he remained in critical condition. Doctors said he was under sedation and on a ventilator to aid his breathing and there was no immediate sign of brain damage.
“He responds to stimuli and that’s good,” Dr. Lawrence Roberts said at a briefing. There was no sign of carbon monoxide poisoning, he said.
“I think youth always helps,” he added, commenting on possible reasons why McCloy survived while the others, most if not all older men, perished.
Thirteen miners had been trapped 260 feet below the surface of the Sago Mine since an explosion early Monday. The mine is located about 100 miles northeast of Charleston. As rescue workers tried to get to the men, families waited at the Sago Baptist Church during an emotional two-day vigil.
But just after midnight, families began streaming out of the church, yelling “They’re alive!” The church’s bells began ringing and families embraced, as politicians proclaimed word of the apparent rescue a miracle.
As an ambulance drove away from the mine carrying what families believed was the first survivor, they applauded, not yet knowing there were no others.
The celebration lasted for about three hours and several newspapers even splashed headlines such as “Miracle in the Mine” on their front pages, which went to press before the truth emerged. “Alive! Miners beat odds” was USA Today’s headline with a picture of two smiling family members.
The major news websites, including MSNBC.com, also heralded an apparent miracle but they were able to quickly change their covers when news emerged that only one miner survived.
'Miscommunication'
ICG's CEO 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.
But what leaked out to anxious family members was that 12 were found alive.
“That information spread like wildfire,” Hatfield said, “because it had come from the command center,” where rescuers communicated via an open microphone, raising the possibility that anyone in the center could have spread incorrect information. In addition, rescuers were wearing masks and their communication could have come in garbled.
At least two family members in the church said they received cell phone calls from a mine foreman saying the men were alive.
Officials knew of the miscommunication after about 20 minutes, Hatfield added, but didn’t talk to the families for nearly three hours because they wanted to confirm the status of the victims and prevent another round of confusion.
“Let’s put this in perspective. Who do I tell not to celebrate? I didn’t know if there were 12 or 1 (who were alive),” Hatfield said.
When Hatfield appeared before the families, he said “there had been a lack of communication, that what we were told was wrong and that only one survived,” according to John Groves, whose brother Jerry Groves was one of the trapped miners.
“There was no apology. There was no nothing. It was immediately out the door,” said Nick Helms, son of another victim, Terry Helms.
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 by an explosion for more than 42 hours, a doctor said. At 27, McCloy was among the youngest in the group.
The last of the 12 bodies were taken out of the mine at midmorning. The cause of death was not disclosed, but it appeared it was not the blast that killed them.
Officials said the 12 were found together behind a curtain-like fabric barrier they had set up to keep out carbon monoxide gas, which was detected in deadly concentrations inside the mine.
“It’s sorrow beyond belief,” Ben Hatfield, chief executive officer of mine owner International Coal Group, said during a news conference at which the deaths were announced.
“Our nation mourns those who lost their lives,” President Bush said, speaking in Washington.
Gov. Joe Manchin said that, “about the confusion, I can’t tell you of anything more heart-wrenching that I’ve ever gone through in my life. Nothing.”
Mine's grim record
“I can feel the outrage,” he later told NBC’s “Today” show, referring to the anger from the victims’ families. They had received word, the origin of which is still not certain, that 12 had survived only to be told three hours later that 12 had died.
Manchin said the state would investigate the cause of the explosion, the miscommunication and the mine’s numerous safety and health violations last year. “We’re going to look into this,” Manchin vowed.
John Bennett, whose father Jim Bennett was one of the victims and had been due to retire in April, complained that his father would “tell me how unsafe the mine is.”
Problems at the mine had been “going on for months ... and they still send men in,” Bennett told “Today,” adding that he felt that if the mine owner had allowed workers to unionize the violations wouldn’t have happened.
Survivor responds to stimuli
McCloy was transferred to the intensive care unit of West Virginia University’s Ruby Memory Hospital at Morgantown, where he remained in critical condition. Doctors said he was under sedation and on a ventilator to aid his breathing and there was no immediate sign of brain damage.
“He responds to stimuli and that’s good,” Dr. Lawrence Roberts said at a briefing. There was no sign of carbon monoxide poisoning, he said.
“I think youth always helps,” he added, commenting on possible reasons why McCloy survived while the others, most if not all older men, perished.
Thirteen miners had been trapped 260 feet below the surface of the Sago Mine since an explosion early Monday. The mine is located about 100 miles northeast of Charleston. As rescue workers tried to get to the men, families waited at the Sago Baptist Church during an emotional two-day vigil.
But just after midnight, families began streaming out of the church, yelling “They’re alive!” The church’s bells began ringing and families embraced, as politicians proclaimed word of the apparent rescue a miracle.
As an ambulance drove away from the mine carrying what families believed was the first survivor, they applauded, not yet knowing there were no others.
The celebration lasted for about three hours and several newspapers even splashed headlines such as “Miracle in the Mine” on their front pages, which went to press before the truth emerged. “Alive! Miners beat odds” was USA Today’s headline with a picture of two smiling family members.
The major news websites, including MSNBC.com, also heralded an apparent miracle but they were able to quickly change their covers when news emerged that only one miner survived.
'Miscommunication'
ICG's CEO 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.
But what leaked out to anxious family members was that 12 were found alive.
“That information spread like wildfire,” Hatfield said, “because it had come from the command center,” where rescuers communicated via an open microphone, raising the possibility that anyone in the center could have spread incorrect information. In addition, rescuers were wearing masks and their communication could have come in garbled.
At least two family members in the church said they received cell phone calls from a mine foreman saying the men were alive.
Officials knew of the miscommunication after about 20 minutes, Hatfield added, but didn’t talk to the families for nearly three hours because they wanted to confirm the status of the victims and prevent another round of confusion.
“Let’s put this in perspective. Who do I tell not to celebrate? I didn’t know if there were 12 or 1 (who were alive),” Hatfield said.
When Hatfield appeared before the families, he said “there had been a lack of communication, that what we were told was wrong and that only one survived,” according to John Groves, whose brother Jerry Groves was one of the trapped miners.
“There was no apology. There was no nothing. It was immediately out the door,” said Nick Helms, son of another victim, Terry Helms.
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