13 קוילן גרובערס באגראבן לעבעדיג
אפשר קענט איר עפעס העלפן ?
Coal miners buried alive
BY DEREK ROSE in Tallmansville, W.Va.
and CORKY SIEMASZKO in New York
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Coal miner Alton Wansley leaves Tallmansville, W.Va., mine yesterday as rescuers try to reach 13 workers trapped 260 feet belowground.
Rescuers raced against time last night to reach 13 West Virginia coal miners trapped by a blast in the bowels of the Earth while worried relatives prayed for their deliverance.
There had been no contact with the miners since the explosion, possibly sparked by a lightning strike, erupted a little after 6 a.m. at the Sago Mine outside Tallmansville, W. Va.
The first rescue teams had to turn back because of high carbon monoxide levels, and officials feared the mine could become a coal-lined coffin because the miners' air purifiers can provide only a few hours of clean air and the men have no oxygen tanks.
"You just have to hope that the explosions weren't of the magnitude that was horrific from the beginning," West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin said.
"There's always that possibility - that hope and that chance - they were able to go to a part of the mine that still has safe air," he said. "There's places they can retreat in all these mines. They have catacombs."
Relatives said the miners were heading for an underground staging area and were 2 miles into the mine and about 260 feet belowground when the explosion hit.
Fearing that heavy boring equipment could spark another methane blast, rescuers were reduced to moving tons of rubble by hand.
Just before midnight last night, officials estimated they were only about halfway to reaching the area where they believed the miners were trapped.
Many relatives of the trapped men gathered at the Sago Baptist Church in the center of town, some standing in the fog on muddy streets outside, waiting for word of their loved ones.
Anna McCloy, 25, huddled in a blanket against the night chill, said she was "hoping and waiting" to hear word about her husband, Randal, 26.
"It's real hard," she said in a quavering voice. "I've got two babies to think about." Her son is 4 and her daughter just 1.
Samantha Lewis, whose 28-year-old husband, David, was among those trapped, said he took the job because the pay was good. "Unless you're a coal miner or you have a .college degree, you don't make any money," she said.
Located about 100 miles northeast of Charleston, W. Va., the mine was idle over the holidays and the trapped miners were on the first shift returning to work as a severe thunderstorm strafed the region.
The miners were in two cars heading into the mine shaft when there was a roar and everything went black.
"It's a horrible freak accident," International Coal Group Chairman Wilbur Ross said. "Apparently, a lightning bolt struck the mine," possibly igniting volatile gases.
The 13 men in the first car were cut off by a wall of debris from the four men in the second car, who tried valiantly to dig out their colleagues and called for help.
International Coal Group acquired the mine in March when it bought the bankrupt Anker West Virginia Mining Co. The mine was slapped with 46 violations during its most recent inspection, a coal group official said, conceding that that "was not necessarily something to be proud of."
With Kathleen Lucadamo and News Wire Services
Originally published on January 3, 2006
תוקן על ידי - פנחס_מיילך - 03/01/2006 15:14:44
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