22,391,841 members doing good!
about our ads
share your passions, stories, inspirations, and more
Six More Children Left Behind in another W.VA Tragedy
Jan 21, 2006
Once Again Let's pray for the families of the miners in West Virginia.... another tragic loss for our nation!

"It's unfortunate that every coal mine health and safety law on the books today is written with the blood of coal miners." ... U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall




By LAWRENCE MESSINA, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 58 minutes ago

MELVILLE, W.Va. - Rescuers on Saturday found the bodies of two miners who disappeared after a conveyor belt caught fire deep inside a coal mine, bringing to 14 the number of West Virginia miners killed on the job in less than a month.


The bodies were found in an area of the mine where rescue teams had been battling the intense blaze for more than 40 hours. Rescuers could not enter that portion of the mine until the flames had been mostly extinguished and the tunnels cooled down.
"We have found the two miners we were looking for," said Doug Conaway, director of the state Office of Miners' Health Training and Safety. "Unfortunately, we don't have a positive outcome."


The miners became separated Thursday evening as their 12-member crew tried to escape a conveyor belt fire at Aracoma Coal's Alma No. 1 mine in Melville, about 60 miles southwest of Charleston. The rest of the crew and nine other miners working in a different section of the mine escaped unharmed.


"We have two brave miners that have perished," Gov. Joe Manchin told reporters.

Conaway said it appeared the two miners made a "valiant effort" to escape, but were blocked by high temperatures and thick smoke.


Saturday's deaths bring to 14 the number of West Virginia miners killed on the job since Jan. 2. Earlier this month, 12 miners died as a result of an explosion at the Sago Mine, more than 180 miles away on the northern side of the state. The sole survivor of that accident remained hospitalized in a light coma Saturday.

The governor pledged to introduce legislation Monday dealing with rapid responses in emergencies, electronic tracking technology and reserve oxygen stations for underground miners.

"These two men who perished in this mine, the 12 men who perished in the Sago Mine, I can only say to each of those families ... that they have not died in vain," Manchin said.

He planned to travel to Washington on Tuesday to discuss the proposals with the state's congressional delegation, hoping they will seek reforms on the federal level.


Rep. Nick Rahall , D-W.Va., said Congress must give the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration the tools to operate effectively, and may have to increase its budget.

"It's unfortunate that every coal mine health and safety law on the books is written with the blood of coal miners," Rahall said.


The governor and Sen. Jay Rockefeller informed families of the deaths at a church before announcing them publicly, along with Don Blankenship, chairman of Aracoma's owner, Massey Energy.

Massey opened the mine in 1999, and these are its first fatalities. The company released a statement Saturday, saying it was saddened by the miners' deaths and that the company will now focus on comforting the families.


The federal Mine Health and Safety Act was written a year after a 1968 explosion in Farmington that killed 78 miners, including Manchin's uncle.

Rescue workers on the surface of the Aracoma mine got no response Saturday morning when they drilled a 200-foot hole into a mine shaft in an effort to contact the missing miners. Workers pounded on a steel drill bit but heard nothing from below, and a camera and a microphone lowered into the hole detected no sign of them.

Rescue efforts were hampered by intense heat and smoke that cut visibility to 2 to 3 feet in some parts of the mine. Teams were able to get into four tunnels, each about four miles long, but they could not get beyond the burning conveyor belt. Heat from the fire had also caused the roof of the mine to deteriorate.


The victims were identified as Don I. Bragg, 33, and Ellery Hatfield, 47. Both were husbands and fathers with more than a decade of mining experience and had worked in the Alma mine for five years.

"It's just rough. He's really going to be missed," said Kevin Walls, a nephew of Hatfield's. "He was just a good man. He would do anything to help anybody."

The bodies were to be sent to a medical examiner's office in Charleston.

The two men had been equipped with oxygen canisters that typically produce about an hour's worth of air.

Jimmy Marcum, a 54-year-old retired miner from Delbarton, said better equipment is needed to protect miners.


"I mean, they can send a man to the moon but they can't make a (oxygen canister) that will last at least 16 hours. ... That's what they need to do," Marcum said.

Officials emphasized that there were key differences between the Alma mine fire and the Jan 2. Sago mine explosion. For one, the carbon monoxide levels, while still higher than normal in the Alma mine, were not as severe, Conaway said.

Also, the ventilation system continued to work at the Alma mine and no methane was detected coming out, said Robert Friend, acting deputy assistant secretary for MSHA.

That enabled rescuers to get into the mine more quickly. The gases at the Sago Mine and damage to the ventilation system had prevented investigators from entering the mine until Saturday. It will likely be another week before they can reach the deepest parts of the mine and begin the physical investigation into what caused the explosion, said Ben Hatfield, president of International Coal Group, which owns Sago.

Conveyor belt fires can occur when belt rollers get stuck or out of alignment and rub against the structure supporting them, said John Langton, MSHA's deputy administrator for coal mine safety and health. Another possible cause is the accumulation of coal dust.

An MSHA proposal in the early 1990s would have required more vigorous testing of fire resistancy of conveyor belts. But it was shelved in 2002.


The agency proposed the change after a study showed that conveyor belts sparked 53 coal mine fires between 1970 and 1988, with 36 of them occurring in the 1980s.

Langton said officials felt comfortable withdrawing the proposal because of improved sensors that can detect smoke and carbon monoxide. The monitoring system worked Thursday, he said.

The Aracoma mine received more than 90 citations from MSHA in 2005. According to the MSHA Web site, the most recent were issued Dec. 20, when the mine was hit with seven violations for problems related to its ventilation plan and efforts to control coal dust and other combustible materials.




(2) | () | | send green star | flag as inappropriate
Visibility: Everyone
Tags: , , , , ,
Posted: Jan 21, 2006 8:53pm

 
 
 
Content and comments expressed here are the opinions of Care2 users and not necessarily that of Care2.com or its affiliates.

Author

Barb PL
female , married, 2 children
Franktown, VA, USA
Shares by Type:
All (377) | Blog (63) | Alert (81) | Top 10 List (1) | Poll (3) | Recipe (1) | Photo (2) | Tribute (9) | Message (217)

Showing shares tagged with: left-behind [show all]
ads keep care2 free
SHARES FROM BARB'S NETWORK
May
19
by Lisa G.
(0 comments  |  discussions )
The rich variety of music in the first Elizabethan age is something we can all enjoy today. Renaissance and Elizabethan music came in two categories - sacred and secular. Translate that as religious and fun! There were no conflicts between mods, rocke...
(0 comments  |  discussions )
National Scout Jamboree 2013 False Flag Insider Warning. Nevada Governor 2014 David Lory VanDerBeek   http://nevadagovernor2014 .com/national-scout-jambo ree-2013-false-flag-insid er-warning-nevada-governo r-2014-david-lory-vanderb eek/   Governo...
May
18
(0 comments  |  discussions )
            https://www.youtube.com/w atch?feature=player_embed ded&v=S5JAVk3Qwi8#!       Carlos TheZilla shared a link. Imee Ooi – The Chant of metta ( Lyrics: Pali & Eng) The chant of metta by...
by Rob D.
(0 comments  |  discussions )
Just the other day, the local newspaper did a story about the homeless on Oahu.  Like any clever newspaper, the Star Advertiser had staff photos to go with the story.The image of a 32 year old man, from West Coast, holding a placard with the me...
by Rob D.
(0 comments  |  discussions )
A recent trip to K-Mart gave the old geezer the opportunity to check out who was hanging about IHS.  The shelter run by IHS is just across the road from K-Mart.As luck would have it, the old geezer spied someone known to, sitting on the car par...
(0 comments  |  discussions )
Alabama City Destroying Ancient Indian Mound for Sams Club / This is a grave site!!!!!!! / Do They Have A Heart? No! They Would Even Sell Their Mothers To The Devil For A Buck! Alabama city destroying ancient Indian mound for Sams ...
(0 comments  |  discussions )
Alabama City Destroying Ancient Indian Mound for Sams Club / Do They Have A Heart? No! They Would Even Sell Their Mothers To The Devil For A Buck! This is a grave site!!!!!!! Alabama city destroying ancient Indian mound for Sams Club www.s...
May
17
(0 comments  |  discussions )
  Films For Action Over 500 amazing free online documentaries that challenge, enlighten and inspire. What are you watching tonight? http://www.filmsforaction .org/walloffilms/ Via Films For Action             &...
(0 comments  |  discussions )
              http://www.fda.gov/ForCon sumers/ConsumerUpdates/uc m347194.htm It’s basically because kids don’t like diet chocolate milk. So we’ll just not tell them it’s diet. Same crap if you ...
(0 comments  |  0 discussions )
Stop the Pebble Mine for ads stoppebble.org

Copyright © 2013 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved