The Sago Mine Tragedy
I have been literally guled to the TV ever since this coal miner accident happened. I was happy when jubalation rang out when the families heard that 12 coal miners were found alive, but saddened when I heard one coal miner had passed away. Then hours later I was angry and heartbroken when I heard that 12 of the 13 coal miners had passed away. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the 13 coal miners. I pray that the one sole survivor continues to cling to life and makes a successful and full recovery so that he is able to be reunited with his family and friends, with his 12 coal miners families, and to be able to tell the story of what might have happened that caused the explosion.
Officials Piece Together Coal Mine Tragedy
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.
Miners' Notes Reveal Their Final Moments
TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - Some of the 12 coal miners who died in the Sago Mine disaster scrawled farewell notes assuring their loved ones that their final hours trapped underground amid toxic gases were not spent in agony.
"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."
Tom Toler, Martin's older brother who worked 30 years in the mine with him, said Thursday that the note was "written very lightly and very loosely" in block letters on the back of an insurance application form his brother had in his pocket.
"I took it to mean that it was written in the final stages," the brother said. "I'd call it more or less scribbling."
The miners died after an explosion that rocked the mine Monday morning. Eleven of the victims were discovered nearly 42 hours after the blast, at the deepest point of the mine, behind a curtain-like barrier set up to keep out carbon monoxide, a toxic byproduct of combustion that was found to be present at deadly levels inside the shaft. The 12th victim was believed to have been killed by the blast itself.
Autopsies were under way Thursday, and officials would not comment on the cause of death or how long the men might have survived.
John Groves, whose brother Jerry was one of the victims, told The Associated Press that he knew that at least four notes were left behind. He said his family did not receive one.
No note was found on the body of 59-year-old machine operator Fred Ware Jr., but daughter Peggy Cohen said she and other relatives who went to identify bodies at a temporary morgue were told by the medical examiner that some of the men wrote letters with a similar message: "Your dad didn't suffer."
"The notes said they weren't suffering, they were just going to sleep," said Cohen, who planned to retrieve her father's belongings to see if he had put such a note in his lunch box.
Cohen said her father had the peaceful look of someone who died of 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," she said. "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, struggling with the effects of oxygen deprivation to his vital organs. Doctors said he may have suffered brain damage. On Thursday afternoon, he was moved from a hospital in Morgantown to one in Pittsburgh for hyperbaric oxygen treatment.
The treatment helps get oxygen to the body's tissues, including the brain, and can help increase blood cells to fight infections or promote healing of injuries.
"Certainly Mr. McCloy is going to have a tough course," said Dr. John Prescott. "We just don't know at this point how things will turn out."
The miner's father, Randal McCloy Sr., told The Associated Press that he believes "in his heart" that his son's mostly 50-something colleagues decided during their last, desperate hours to share their dwindling supply of oxygen with his son because he was the youngest of the group and had two young children.
"Those men were like brothers. They took care of each other," he said.
There was no immediate confirmation from officials that the men shared their oxygen.
Each of the miners had breathing apparatus designed to provide up to an hour's worth of oxygen, but an expert said that time could conceivably be extended.
"A lot of it depends on the circumstances and how big you are and how much air you suck," said Terry Farley, an administrator with West Virginia's Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training.
Speaking of seeing his son on a hospital ventilator, the elder McCloy broke down in tears. "I bent over and kissed his head. I told him that I loved him," he said.
The first of the funerals are set to begin on Saturday.
Federal and state investigators were at the mine Thursday, seeking the cause of the explosion and a more detailed explanation for the miscommunication among rescuers that had relatives believing for three hours that 12 of the miners had actually survived.
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 mine within a half-hour of Monday's explosion. The contractor, Vaisala Inc., said two of the strikes, including one that was four to 10 times stronger than average, hit within 1 1/2 miles of the mine.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration cited the Sago mine for 208 violations of federal mine rules in 2005, a number an agency official said was higher than normal for a mine that size. Those violations included 18 orders shutting down parts of the mine until alleged violations were corrected, but none serious enough to shutter the entire operation.
Denver Anderson, who was in a group of miners just behind those who were trapped, still had red splotches on his face from the coal dust and rock that struck him from the explosion.
"It wasn't no explosion sound to me that I heard," he said. "It was just a big gush of air and heat and gravel, dirt, dust and smoke. I tried to turn around and throw my arm up to protect my face."
The explosion was West Virginia's deadliest coal mining accident since 1968, when 78 men were killed in an explosion. Sago was the nation's worst coal mining disaster since a pair of explosions at a mine in Brookwood, Ala., killed 13 people in September 2001
Officials Piece Together Coal Mine Tragedy
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.
Miners' Notes Reveal Their Final Moments
TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - Some of the 12 coal miners who died in the Sago Mine disaster scrawled farewell notes assuring their loved ones that their final hours trapped underground amid toxic gases were not spent in agony.
"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."
Tom Toler, Martin's older brother who worked 30 years in the mine with him, said Thursday that the note was "written very lightly and very loosely" in block letters on the back of an insurance application form his brother had in his pocket.
"I took it to mean that it was written in the final stages," the brother said. "I'd call it more or less scribbling."
The miners died after an explosion that rocked the mine Monday morning. Eleven of the victims were discovered nearly 42 hours after the blast, at the deepest point of the mine, behind a curtain-like barrier set up to keep out carbon monoxide, a toxic byproduct of combustion that was found to be present at deadly levels inside the shaft. The 12th victim was believed to have been killed by the blast itself.
Autopsies were under way Thursday, and officials would not comment on the cause of death or how long the men might have survived.
John Groves, whose brother Jerry was one of the victims, told The Associated Press that he knew that at least four notes were left behind. He said his family did not receive one.
No note was found on the body of 59-year-old machine operator Fred Ware Jr., but daughter Peggy Cohen said she and other relatives who went to identify bodies at a temporary morgue were told by the medical examiner that some of the men wrote letters with a similar message: "Your dad didn't suffer."
"The notes said they weren't suffering, they were just going to sleep," said Cohen, who planned to retrieve her father's belongings to see if he had put such a note in his lunch box.
Cohen said her father had the peaceful look of someone who died of 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," she said. "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, struggling with the effects of oxygen deprivation to his vital organs. Doctors said he may have suffered brain damage. On Thursday afternoon, he was moved from a hospital in Morgantown to one in Pittsburgh for hyperbaric oxygen treatment.
The treatment helps get oxygen to the body's tissues, including the brain, and can help increase blood cells to fight infections or promote healing of injuries.
"Certainly Mr. McCloy is going to have a tough course," said Dr. John Prescott. "We just don't know at this point how things will turn out."
The miner's father, Randal McCloy Sr., told The Associated Press that he believes "in his heart" that his son's mostly 50-something colleagues decided during their last, desperate hours to share their dwindling supply of oxygen with his son because he was the youngest of the group and had two young children.
"Those men were like brothers. They took care of each other," he said.
There was no immediate confirmation from officials that the men shared their oxygen.
Each of the miners had breathing apparatus designed to provide up to an hour's worth of oxygen, but an expert said that time could conceivably be extended.
"A lot of it depends on the circumstances and how big you are and how much air you suck," said Terry Farley, an administrator with West Virginia's Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training.
Speaking of seeing his son on a hospital ventilator, the elder McCloy broke down in tears. "I bent over and kissed his head. I told him that I loved him," he said.
The first of the funerals are set to begin on Saturday.
Federal and state investigators were at the mine Thursday, seeking the cause of the explosion and a more detailed explanation for the miscommunication among rescuers that had relatives believing for three hours that 12 of the miners had actually survived.
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 mine within a half-hour of Monday's explosion. The contractor, Vaisala Inc., said two of the strikes, including one that was four to 10 times stronger than average, hit within 1 1/2 miles of the mine.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration cited the Sago mine for 208 violations of federal mine rules in 2005, a number an agency official said was higher than normal for a mine that size. Those violations included 18 orders shutting down parts of the mine until alleged violations were corrected, but none serious enough to shutter the entire operation.
Denver Anderson, who was in a group of miners just behind those who were trapped, still had red splotches on his face from the coal dust and rock that struck him from the explosion.
"It wasn't no explosion sound to me that I heard," he said. "It was just a big gush of air and heat and gravel, dirt, dust and smoke. I tried to turn around and throw my arm up to protect my face."
The explosion was West Virginia's deadliest coal mining accident since 1968, when 78 men were killed in an explosion. Sago was the nation's worst coal mining disaster since a pair of explosions at a mine in Brookwood, Ala., killed 13 people in September 2001