Crews drill to find trapped West Virginia miners
MELLVILLE, W. Va. (AP) — Rescuers started drilling a hole late Friday into a smoky coal mine to help locate two miners missing after a conveyor belt caught fire deep underground. The incident was the second major mining accident in West Virginia in less than three weeks.

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin hugs local resident, Linda Curry of Chapmanville, W. Va., outside the Bright Star Freewill Baptist Church in Melville.
By Jeff Gentner, AP

More than a day after the fire broke out, crews planned to drill 200 feet into a section of the mine and try to contact the men by pounding on the steel drill bit. (Related video: Efforts underway to save miners)

If they receive no response, rescuers planned to drop a camera and microphone into the hole, said Jesse Cole, an official with the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Six teams were underground searching for the men, whose exact location was unknown, said Doug Conaway, director of the state Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training.

The missing men were equipped with oxygen canisters that typically produce about an hour's worth of air.

The fire broke out Thursday night at the Alma No. 1 mine. Rescuers were hampered by heavy smoke that cut visibility to 2 to 3 feet. After the blaze was brought somewhat under control Friday, rescuers spread out to search four tunnels, each about four miles long. The mine extends as much as 900 feet below ground.

About 20 rescue teams from four states were at the scene Friday night. Those rescuers in the mine were finding some pockets of fresh air, but Conaway said there was no way to tell if conditions had changed since Thursday night.

David Roberts, co-manager of Refab Co., a mining machinery repair company, said a friend on a mine rescue team told him it was very hot — up to 400 degrees — and smoky inside the shafts.

Twenty-one miners were in the southwestern West Virginia mine on Thursday when a carbon monoxide monitor about 10,000 feet from the entrance set off an alarm. Nineteen of the miners escaped.

Rescuers had hoped to use special phones that emit sensors to try to locate the missing men, but the terrain was too rough to use them.

The governor was with the miners' families, who along with friends and co-workers gathered at the Brightstar Freewill Baptist Church to wait for news. Reporters were barred from the church.

Earlier this month, the governor joined another group of miners and relatives of those trapped after an explosion at the International Coal Group's Sago Mine, on the northern side of the state. Twelve miners died in the disaster. The sole survivor, Randal McCloy Jr., 26, remained hospitalized in a light coma Friday.

"Sago is very fresh in everybody's mind, but this is a different scenario," Manchin said. He said the families were hopeful, but he added, "They know that the odds are a little bit long."

The governor said two widows who lost husbands in the Sago mine came to the scene with their children to visit families of the missing men.

"I'm still very hopeful, but I'm also a realist, too, and I know we're in a difficult situation," said Manchin. He said the families have requested that the miners' names not be released.

Manchin hinted that he would eventually seek mine reforms but would not provide details. "As soon as this rescue operation is completed ... I will have a statement that will change mining, not only in this state but across the country," the governor said.

Katharine Kenny, spokeswoman for Massey Energy, owner of mine operator Aracoma Coal, said the company was "very optimistic."

Air samples from a hole near the fire showed elevated levels of carbon monoxide, although not as severe as the levels at the Sago Mine. At one point, rescue teams were in the mine without breathing gear, Conaway said.

Robert Friend, acting deputy assistant secretary for MSHA, said there were some key differences between the Alma and Sago incidents.

The ventilation system continued to work at the Alma mine and no methane was detected coming out of the return, he said. That enabled rescuers to act more quickly.

The fire started where a side conveyor belt meets the main line that brings the coal out, authorities said.

Haskell Sheppard, 29, works the overnight shift as a repairman on the main conveyor belt. He said the line where the fire broke out had problems before, but nothing as serious as this. "Things are bound to tear up every once in a while," he said.

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

He said it's believed that the fire occurred on the belt drive, a big motor that powers the belt.

According to MSHA's website, the Alma mine received more than 90 citations from MSHA inspectors during 2005. The most recent were issued Dec. 20, when the mine was hit with seven violations for items such as its ventilation plan and its efforts to control coal dust and other combustible materials.

The mine was assessed $28,268 in penalties last year. It has not had a fatal accident since at least 1995, the earliest year for which records were kept. The mine had a better-than-average accident rate between 2001 and 2004, but last year 16 workers and one contractor were injured.
[Edited 1/21/06 15:53pm]

they died.
Missing Miners Found Dead By Rescue Crews
Deaths Bring the Number of West Virginia Miners Who Have Died This Month to 14
By LAWRENCE MESSINA, AP

MELVILLE, West Virginia (Jan. 21) - Rescuers on Saturday found the bodies of two coal miners who disappeared after a conveyor belt caught fire deep inside a coal mine.




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The bodies of Don I. Bragg, 33, and Ellery Hatfield, 47, were found in an area of the mine where rescue teams had been battling the fire for more than 40 hours.

"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.

Gov. Joe Manchin and U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller informed families of the deaths at a church prior to making the announcement, along with Don Blankenship, chairman of the mine's owner, Massey Energy.

It was the second major mining accident in West Virginia in less than three weeks.

Earlier this month, an explosion at the Sago Mine, on the northern side of the state, led to the deaths of 12 miners. The sole survivor, Randal McCloy Jr., 26, remained hospitalized in a light coma Saturday.

At the Aracoma mine, the intensity of the heat and smoke had blocked rescue teams from getting beyond the burning conveyor belt, Conaway said. 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 fathers with more than a decade of mining experience and had worked in the Alma mine for five years.

The two men had been equipped with oxygen canisters that typically produce about an hour's worth of air, but officials had initially said there were also pockets of good air inside the mine that they could have reached.

Rescue efforts inside the mine were hampered by heavy smoke that cut visibility to 2 to 3 feet. Teams were able to get into four tunnels, each about four miles long, but they couldn't get beyond the burning conveyor belt.

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 International Coal Group President Ben Hatfield.

The lone survivor from Sago, 26-year-old Randal McCloy Jr., remained hospitalized in a light coma Saturday.

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.

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.


01-21-06 13:50 EST

i heard this on the radio on my way home. so sad. i will for the families.

Can they take a hint in W.Va?

.. awww