NEWS: US Miners Trapped By Underground Blast

SOMETHING IS BEING COVERED UP.

I appeal to you to start keeping an eye on testimonies given in the media.

Time to put on my X-Ray glasses!

Why do I get the feeling that something about this really isn't right?

I was watching BBC News this morning and they were saying that there were 11 survivors out of 12. Then they cut to a reporter who gave an update, he said that he was speaking to emergency services about this incident and that they had planned to bring a helicopter to the area to airlift the survivors to the hospital etc. He then added that they decided not to go through with the helicopter plan as it wasn't needed and that ambulances were enough.

Hmmm... something smells fishy here guys and gals.

They just showed the families reaction after they were told that all of them survived.
They were so happy.
What a diabolical thing to happen to someone. Heads should roll over this shenanigan!
I am really angry at this disgrace!

Now let's see...
Families reported that all alive.
Correspondence from govenor's office confirms to families that all survived (gvnr denied of foxnews of course).
Then one is dead / 12 alive?
Then one alive / 12 dead.
No flesh wounds of carbon dioxide found in survivor.

Correct so far?
Cause of deaths released?
Why is the survivor hurt? How?

I must be getting cynical because i suspect that the survivor will never get the chance to tell what happened.

[edit on 1/4/2006 by theBLESSINGofVISION]

The survivor, Randal McCloy Junior, 27, is critically ill in hospital. A 13th miner was found dead earlier.
BBC.co.uk

My guess is he inhaled alot of toxins and is obviously very ill.

What Went Wrong?

Various accounts have started to emerge of the communications failings which led families of 11 US miners found dead to believe their loved ones were alive.

Relatives say the devastating news that only one of the West Virginia miners had survived came about three hours after they had been told 12 were alive.

The mining company said it knew within 20 minutes that initial reports of 12 survivors were incorrect, but said it was not clear at that stage how many were dead.
BBC.co.uk

I really can't blame the family members for being royally pissed with what's happened.

Families say they were told by a company foreman that the men had been found alive.

So much information is being mixed around, it's stupid. While I was watching the news this morning, the reporter said that the search and rescue team had announced they had found 11 survivors and were waiting to bring them back to the surface.

My question is, why does it take three hours to bring 11 men, who are in need of medical assistance, back to the surface?!

Oh yeah, also, the reporter also mentioned that the search and rescue team had confirmed that the eleven men were in good health!

My question is, why does it take three hours to bring 11 men, who are in need of medical assistance, back to the surface?!

My guess - and this is only a guess - is that the terrain, the threat of another explosion, severity of injuries, all those and more can add up to more than an average of twenty minutes or so per man rescued.

Active mines are scary places. We use to play in mine shafts that were closed down, when we were kids. When I think back on what could have happened....

I live in WV about 2 hours from that mine and yes only one person survived, however he is in critical condition right now and he is in Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, WV.......the Gov. is there and one gentlemen that they interviewed, his Father was killed in the mine and he said that his Dad was supposed to retire in April and then said, well, I guess he retired early. Obviously he was more angry than anything, because that mine had something like 47 safety violations, and the guy was ranting on how the UMWA (United Mine Workers Association) should be there, because they stress so much on safety....being a son of a coal miner and having worked in a mine as wel, it is a very scary place....I will never go back to it again....but my comdolences go out to all the families.....God bless.

Don't look to the media for information. They screwed up royally and are in a CYA mode as well. The media is going to be looking to distance itself from this incident. My best guess is that they are going to fry the Governor, the mine company officials and the leaders of the rescue teams to take the spotlight off of their blunder.

JIMC5499, you're right when you say to not look to the media for answers. They are not true journalists anymore; they're just a bunch of Barbie and Kens looking to get the story out first. That's how they rate themselves and each other. Forget about verifying a source, or a story these days.

I can understand the feelings of the families, even the anger. But already there are people calling to sue somebody. And there are already people screaming about the past safety record of this mine being part of this tragedy.

Valid points? I'm anxious to hear the discussion on those topics.

The Clergy has been blamed for spreading the false information.(thats what ive just heard)

Originally posted by jsobecky
JIMC5499, you're right when you say to not look to the media for answers. They are not true journalists anymore; they're just a bunch of Barbie and Kens looking to get the story out first. That's how they rate themselves and each other. Forget about verifying a source, or a story these days.

By what I understand....the screw up came long before the media said anything about it...

the families were informed that most had survived by the mining company, and then by the Governor. It's my understanding that many in the press were informed BY THE FAMILIES!!
so, what are you getting so ticked off at the journalists for....the families are hugging, saying their loved ones are alive!! the governor himself told them so. and the church bells are ringing to announce the happy news.....

of course they ran with it!! would you doubt it under those circumstances??

so, why are you irked with the media....for screwing up the story on you???

I'm kind of with some of the others here.....something just isn't right, and well, we even have that "liiberal" media" set in place to be the scapegoat.....

hope I am wrong, but well, ya all keep an eye out for whatever comes out as far as the cause. I'm almost willing to bet that we are going to have to dig pretty deep to get that story, while that "liberal media" plays up the other story....

of course, well, I heard that they had been rescued with most surviving around 2 or so in the morning.....then well, it wasn't even a half an hour and they were telling the other story..

my first thought was that
maybe we flipped realities...they were all alive, but well, some power in earth or in heaven just could have that, so through some miraculaous, time altering power, we now have this...

there's many people in the world that would swear that Mandella died in prison, they learned about it in school.....but, well, he didn't did he???

As you can tell, I have some pretty weird stuff that occasionally happens from time to time......I have a hard time accepting that what is today, will still be around tomorrow....lol!!

from JIMC5499 They screwed up royally and are in a CYA mode as well. The media is going to be looking to distance itself from this incident.

They can try to distance themselves, but they are largely to blame. It reminds me too much of Dan Rather & Mary Mapes (Rathergate), or the late Peter Jennings (Goregate), and many many other examples of the MSM jumping the gun and putting a story out that later proved to be false. All in the name of ratings.

Their job is to verify their sources, and the info, before putting it out on the wires. Not to report it as fact before it has been verified.
Some of these reporters actually took the word of family members as "good enough" to report it.

I feel the need to apologize on posting a bogus news item yesterday.

Upon hearing the news, I was relieved that the rescuers had done a fine job and save the remainder of the trapped miners.

I went to bed thinking that these men had been saved only to find out differently when I woke up this morning. I felt betrayed by the media and myself for jumping to conclusions.

Again, my apologies for posting such a bogus news item and my deepest sympathies goes out to the families that have lost a family member in this tragedy.

May their souls rest in peace.

Something odd happened here and they aren't saying exactly how these miners died, but....

start.earthlink.net.../43bca7d0_3ca6_15526200601051558402008

McCloy and the 11 others were found at the deepest point of the mine, about 2 1/2 miles from the entrance, behind a fibrous plastic cloth stretched across an area about 20 feet wide to keep out deadly carbon monoxide gas, Hatfield said. Such curtains, called battices, are used in mines to direct air flow, and miners are trained to use them in an emergency.

Each of the miners in the barricaded area also had a breathing apparatus that purifies the air and had been able to use it, according to mine officials.

Also with the initial reports that they were found alive, it really makes me wonder if something might have gone wrong during the rescue. Could they actually have been found alive and then not made it out?

This is just so tragic. They survived the initial blast, were able to do everything they needed to, to protect themselves while awaiting rescue, but something went wrong?

Anyone have some insight to this? Could the breathing equipment have just not lasted long enough?

EDIT: Double post.

[edit on 5-1-2006 by xeroxed88]

I remember somebody (a news reporter) saying that the breathing equiptment only lasted seven hours. Maybe that's the reason for the deaths of the miners, considering they were trapped for two days.

Their breathing equipment only lasts for about ONE hour. It is an oxygen generating candle kind of like the OBA breathers used by the Navy. What the sad part about this is that we are going to find out that they could have probably walked out of the mine after the explosion. From the statements made there was no cave-in or blockage because of the explosion. Problem is that they did what their training told them to do. Hole up as far from the explosion as possible, rig a barricade to keep the gas out and wait for help. There is going to be blame enough to go around from this, but the real tragedy will be if nothing is learned from this and it happens to someone else.

Hmmm...

I found this floating around, and I thought some might be interested in it. One of the problems with mining in America is that the oversight used to be a killer for profits. Then, a wonderful thing happened, mining industry insiders stacked the deck and took over the regulatory agencies. All cronies lead back to Washington.

Link

President Bush's nominee to head the federal mine safety agency issued an urgent advisory to Pennsylvania's mine operators to update their maps after the Quecreek mine was flooded in 2002 and almost killed nine workers. The following year, a grand jury determined the state's underground mine safety agency _ then led by Bush nominee Richard Stickler _ should have identified the mapping problems sooner. At the time, Stickler had been running the mine agency for five years.

-snip-

In 1997, the United Mine Workers wrote in a letter to then-Gov. Tom Ridge that its evaluation of federal records showed there were incident rates in mines Stickler ran that doubled the national average in six of eight years. It noted that one of the mines he managed for five years had two fatal accidents during that time.

-snip-

In 1998, one of Stickler's own inspectors complained in a letter to him about a change in policy involving ventilation in mines, documents show. He said the change would make the industry less safe for two-thirds of workers and "this policy is strictly an economical document which neither promotes or extends safety."

What happens when you put a fox in charge of the hen house? Well, look around. Regulatory agencies are an enormous drain on the resources of the federal government, if they're just going to serve as a rubber stamp in the pockets of corporations, why bother keeping them around at all? Do away with them, or restore them to their former selves.

This is ridiculous, just another agency working at public cost for private gain.

this is interesting also,
west virginia has shut down all mines until safety checks are done, after two more miners were killed in accidents today....

www.breitbart.com...

Initial reports off Reuters, after the screw-up was discovered and announced, said mobile phones were to blame. People who shouldn't have been saying anything were on the phone releasing the good news to people who immediately got on the phone and released the good news.

The Company said they never made an official release saying the men were alive, which is a good CYA tactic, but might also actually be true. Which suggests to me that "well-meaning" people actually are one of the biggest menaces known to society...