Miners found: 12 of 13 alive!

[Lizzerd]

I was sure they they were goners with what I'd heard in the news reports.

Great day!

[Opposite Lock]

:thumbup:
wow. prayers.

[dando]

Holy ****! :thumbup: :thumbup:

-Kevin

[Linda]

That is great news. I was so afraid when they found the first one dead that there couldn't be any survive. I'm so glad I was wrong.

[rabbit]

Wow. :eek:

[trish]

2006...the year of miracles. :) I believe.

[Michaelhatesfans]

2006...the year of miracles. :) I believe.
One family might disagree with you.

[FCYTravis]

Wow. 12 of 13 dead. Double tragedy. :saywhat: :shakehead :(

How can anyone have told these families that their husbands and fathers were alive when they weren't?

"TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - Family members of miners trapped in a West Virginia mine say only one of the 13 miners survived.

International Coal Group Chief Executive Officer Ben Hatfield told the families that only one miner, Randal McCloy, had survived the explosion.

Hatfield told the families gathered at the Sago Baptist Church that "there had been a lack of communication, that what we were told was wrong and that only one survived," said John Groves, whose brother Jerry Groves was one of the trapped miners.

At that point, chaos broke out in the church and a fight started."

[Lizzerd]

Damn... :cry:

[trish]

I guess I spoke too soon. :( Very sad and unbelievable.

[Kiwifan]

Just watched it on CNN and SKY News. Tragic, just tragic. :shakehead

Rusty.

[oddlycalm]

How can anyone have told these families that their husbands and fathers were alive when they weren't? Easy, someone that heard the garbled transmission from the rescuers decided to act on his/her own without confirmation or authorization. In an age of cell phones in every pocket you can just about figure that in a room full of people monitoring developments there's always going to be someone that can't control themselves and slides off to the side to call his buddy.

oc

[Linda]

:shakehead This is so sad.

[TKGAngel]

It will be interesting to hear the story of the one man who did survive.

Prayers to everyone in that whole community.

[vancouver]

Just heard this on the BBC Lunchtime bulletin.

The families of the victims are devasted they recieved no apology or nothing. :(

[KLang]

The families of the victims are devasted they recieved no apology or nothing. :(

The apology would need to come from the individual who falsely reported outside of proper channels that they had all survived. :mad:


Very sad ending.

I know next to nothing about mining but I am surprised they could not bring more technology to bear on this to get the rescue teams to the victims quicker. It seems to me it wouldn't be that expensive these days to have cameras and air quality monitors throughout the place. :confused:

[dando]

:(

I can only imagine how devastating this turn of events must be for the families.

-Kevin

[Andrew Longman]

Worse. Officials knew immediately that the "good" news was unconfirmed and did nothing for 2.5 hours to go back to the families to tell them such. Instead they let them believe unconfirmed reports until they had confirmation they were dead.

The first mistake is understandable. The second is punishable.

[pchall]

Just heard this on the BBC Lunchtime bulletin.

The families of the victims are devasted they recieved no apology or nothing. :(

As sad as the whole thing is... mistakes were made on both sides. The families at the church celebrated over an unsubstantiated rumor and the company failed to comment that the rumor was unsubstantiable at the time it was being spread around the world by the reports from the celebration.

[TravelGal]

As sad as the whole thing is... mistakes were made on both sides. The families at the church celebrated over an unsubstantiated rumor and the company failed to comment that the rumor was unsubstantiable at the time it was being spread around the world by the reports from the celebration.

I completely agree but the human part of me wants to choke whomever overheard conversations and reported them as fact. And probably also the people responsible for NOT squashing the false rumor with an immediate statement that the miners had been found but there was no word yet on survivors. Seems easy enough to say to me. :shakehead

[Insomniac]

I completely agree but the human part of me wants to choke whomever overheard conversations and reported them as fact. And probably also the people responsible for NOT squashing the false rumor with an immediate statement that the miners had been found but there was no word yet on survivors. Seems easy enough to say to me. :shakehead

Seems like an easy mistake to make. You hear someone say we found 12 miners and assume they meant alive.

[Steve99]

It seems to me it wouldn't be that expensive these days to have cameras and air quality monitors throughout the place. :confused:
Even if they did, would these devices have survived the initial explosion?

[KLang]

Even if they did, would these devices have survived the initial explosion?

If nothing else the devices being offline would indicate where the explosion occurred. Just thinking out loud I guess. :( We now know that some if not most of the men survived the explosion. There were no cave ins. They might have been saved had the rescuers been able to go in more quickly.