Miners Trapped In WV Coal Mine

[christine2448]

This poor man, IMO, he is devastated about the loss of these men, and this 'miscommunication' was a terrible thing and he is being blamed for letting the families celebrate for 2 hours..a reporter just said, 'how did you let them celebrate for so long when you knew in 20 minutes 12 were not alive"..the man, Ben Hatfield, the Pres of company said "who could I tell not to celebrate when we didn't know how many were alive"....oh I am so sad.

 

[lynie]

I feel sorry for Hatfield. He just said, "This is beyond belief. Welcome to the worst day of my life." You can tell he is grief stricken. He does seem to be straight up, as someone else mentioned.

I agree...

 

[Liz]

This poor man, IMO, he is devastated about the loss of these men, and this 'miscommunication' was a terrible thing and he is being blamed for letting the families celebrate for 2 hours..a reporter just said, 'how did you let them celebrate for so long when you knew in 20 minutes 12 were not alive"..the man, Ben Hatfield, the Pres of company said "who could I tell not to celebrate when we didn't know how many were alive"....oh I am so sad.

I can't imagine how sad he (Hatfield) and these poor families must feel. I am on the verge of tears myself and am very upset and I don't even know any of these people.

As Mr. Hatfield said, this is just beyond belief!

There's a family member of a miner leaving by car just now screaming, "They're all liars! Just liars!" (She may have even said 'and murderers'.)
These family members are so upset and angry!

Now Anderson Cooper is asking why the CEO didn't say something sooner, too; since he knew not all 12 had survived 20 minutes after the miscommunication.

Anderson mentioned how there are many family members of the miners that probably went to bed tonight with the euphoria of thinking their loved ones had survived and will find out this horrific news upon awakening tomorrow morning.

 

[IdahoMom]

They were located very near to the first drill hole that went in....where the carbon monoxide levels were so high.

HUGE miscommunication is an understatement here. This poor man relaying this news and facing the media.......I still support him......he seems straight up.

Me too Les.

 

[Mygirlsadie]

What the hell is going on here? ... I was wondering why there wasnt any pics or anything of the guys being brought out or any confirmation from the mayor and stuff. I just figured I guess they were too busy taking reports from the miners to make any statments..uhhh how sad.. So it went from one dead to one survivor..I pray to God he makes it, he (I think) was the ''baby'' of the crew. Bless his heart.

 

[Liz]

What the hell is going on here? ... I was wondering why there wasnt any pics or anything of the guys being brought out or any confirmation from the mayor and stuff. I just figured I guess they were too busy taking reports from the miners to make any statments..uhhh how sad.. So it went from one dead to one survivor..I pray to God he makes it, he (I think) was the ''baby'' of the crew. Bless his heart.

I'm really concerned about the survivor. I'm thinking that IF the carbon monoxide levels were really so dangerously high, that 11 succombed to it; that this young survivor may be left with some debilitating injuries. I sure hope not though.

 

[Mygirlsadie]

I wonder where this gal Lisa with St. Josephs got her info...

I'm hoping it's a good sign that no other ambulances have come through as yet! Or could it signify that no other miners have been brought out of the mine, yet?

I had heard on FOX that several miners were in need of medical attention; but there is a triage unit set up at the mine site.

FOX update: The head ER doctor, Dr. Blake and nurses are on the scene at the mine portal at this time; and the miners will be triaged at the site and then sent to the hospital.

The gal (Lisa with St. Joseph's Hospital) on the phone with Bill Hemmer did mention that several of the miners did want to see their families first. She said IF they are determined to be in good enough condition, that might be possible for them to visit with family for a few minutes before being taken to the hospital.

 

[michelle]

what the heck happened here DH woke me up at 2 because he had a coughing spell and said 12 were found alive, i thanked God went back to sleep and now i wake up and i was like am i dreaming????

 

[harleysnana]

I was watching the news when the lady came out and told them it was
a mistake and that only one survived.
This is what I don't understand....
The announcement that 12 were alive was made... and within 20 min
Hatfield and the Governor knew it was
possibly a miscommunication. Hatfield said in the news conference that 20 min after the announcement that they all survived he was told there was only one survivor!
How in the crap can he let the families keep up the hope... for almost 3 hours??
He claimed that he wanted to make sure it was true before putting the families through more turmoil?
WTF!!!
How can ANYONE let the family think their loved one survived for 3 hours???
And then tell them… sorry there is only one survivor?
I am soooo outraged by this!
The Governor even knew there was a possibility that only one had survived!
I feel like this is a bad dream!!
Why weren’t the families told sooner??
:furious:

 

[michelle]

Oh my goodness this is horrible. they just said the one survivor had no levels of carbon monoxide in his blood, i wonder what happened in that mine?

 

[Dark Knight]

We were absolutely stunned at work when the AP sent this across the wires. We thought it was a mistake on their part, but turned on CNN and saw that it wasn't. We had passed along the original news (quoting the AP) as did ABC Radio then had to tell of this shocking turn of events just 3 hours later. We just couldn't believe such a mistake had been made. :furious:

 

[Mygirlsadie]

See this is where I think that the command center should be in a locked up room sound proof walls, or just somewhere secluded etc.. where even the family members are not allowed . No press, nobody.. That way they won't be able to hear things over radios and blow things out of proportions like this while their emotions are already running high. The only reports they would get would be confirmed ones. I guess the reason the Gov. waited 3 hours to tell them they were dead was because he needed it confirmed that all 11 of them are indeed dead by a doctor, he was saying all along that nothing was confirmed that they were alive. I read somewhere that a fight broke out in the church and people are screaming 'liars' from windows of cars. Nobody lied except the person who started this and that I do believe was a family member. I feel bad for these people...Everybody there who is involved this is a living nitemare!

I was watching the news when the lady came out and told them it was
a mistake and that only one survived.
This is what I don't understand....
The announcement that 12 were alive was made... and within 20 min
Hatfield and the Governor knew it was
possibly a miscommunication. Hatfield said in the news conference that 20 min after the announcement that they all survived he was told there was only one survivor!
How in the crap can he let the families keep up the hope... for almost 3 hours??
He claimed that he wanted to make sure it was true before putting the families through more turmoil?
WTF!!!
How can ANYONE let the family think their loved one survived for 3 hours???
And then tell them… sorry there is only one survivor?
I am soooo outraged by this!
The Governor even knew there was a possibility that only one had survived!
I feel like this is a bad dream!!
Why weren’t the families told sooner??
:furious:

 

[michelle]

. Nobody lied except the person who started this and that I do believe was a family member. I feel bad for these people...Everybody there who is involved this is a living nitemare!

So a family member was the one to tell people that everyone was alive???

 

[petra]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060104/ap_on_re_us/mine_explosion

how sad. prayers for families.

 

[mysteriew]

I was watching the news when the lady came out and told them it was
a mistake and that only one survived.
This is what I don't understand....
The announcement that 12 were alive was made... and within 20 min
Hatfield and the Governor knew it was
possibly a miscommunication. Hatfield said in the news conference that 20 min after the announcement that they all survived he was told there was only one survivor!
How in the crap can he let the families keep up the hope... for almost 3 hours??
He claimed that he wanted to make sure it was true before putting the families through more turmoil?
WTF!!!
How can ANYONE let the family think their loved one survived for 3 hours???
And then tell them… sorry there is only one survivor?
I am soooo outraged by this!
The Governor even knew there was a possibility that only one had survived!
I feel like this is a bad dream!!
Why weren’t the families told sooner??
:furious:

Can you imagine how much worse it could have been if they had given them the news unverified?
From 'your loved ones are entrapped and in danger'
To '1 dead, the others survived'
To 'they all died but one'
And what would have happened at that time if they had announced it right away and found out it was another "miscommunication". That they were alive.
If you have ever been at the scene of a disaster, you would know that there is a lot of "miscommunication" that goes on. Only the persons who are working right at the front really knows what is happening, and even he is only aware of what is happening in the area he is working. Other than that it is word of mouth, relying on radio communications to pass it along. Radio communications are't like talking on a telephone- they aren't that clear, they can often break up, and the person listening has to be real attentive to what is being said. Misunderstandings can and do occur. That is why it sometimes takes time for info to be passed. Sometimes they wait for the workers to come back to the surface to make reports.
Media should not have issued the info as fact before it could be confirmed. Period.
So I don't blame the owners or whoever for withholding the info that only one survived. There had already been one "miscommunication". Why take a chance on another? That three hours of hope for the families? They have been on a rollercoaster ever since they first heard about the accident. Even at the time that they heard there were 11 survivors, they didn't know if it was their loved one or not. They most likely had been subjected to many rumors during their vigil. This was a particularly hurtful one. But to then follow that up with more unverified info would have just made it worse.

 

[michelle]

they were just showing the papers that were already printed saying " ALIVE" on them, this is so tragic!!

 

[Mygirlsadie]

So a family member was the one to tell people that everyone was alive???

I don't know that for sure. Not confirmed... lol But I will say that I read that somewhere possibly on this site that a family member over heard a call coming in from a radio of some sort and thats when things heated up?! ..wrong time wrong place to put blame on anybody.. I can understand how this all turned into mass confusion. I just hope the families know that everybody was doing what they could for their husband, son, brother ...Aww they are showing pictures on CNN of the one who survived he is a young skinny little guy...I hope he makes it..if one miracle comes out of this let it be him and let him be ok...the others legends can live on through him and he can tell the famlies stories of their loved ones last minutes, maybe messages ' tell my wife I love her..etc'

 

[michelle]

I don't know that for sure. Not confirmed... lol But I will say that I read that somewhere possibly on this site that a family member over heard a call coming in from a radio of some sort and thats when things heated up?! ..wrong time wrong place to put blame on anybody.. I can understand how this all turned into mass confusion. I just hope the families know that everybody was doing what they could for their husband, son, brother ...Aww they are showing pictures on CNN of the one who survived he is a young skinny little guy...I hope he makes it..if one miracle comes out of this let it be him and let him be ok...the others legends can live on through him and he can tell the famlies stories of their loved ones last minutes, maybe messages ' tell my wife I love her..etc'

I told DH this morning before he left for work that i bet that boy had some stories to tell, its so sad, i feel so bad for the families of these minors, when i find the info on funeral arrangements and all that comes out i want to send them flowers, just a small thing....My heart goes out to them....

 

[christine2448]

I don't know that for sure. Not confirmed... lol But I will say that I read that somewhere possibly on this site that a family member over heard a call coming in from a radio of some sort and thats when things heated up?! ..wrong time wrong place to put blame on anybody.. I can understand how this all turned into mass confusion. I just hope the families know that everybody was doing what they could for their husband, son, brother ...Aww they are showing pictures on CNN of the one who survived he is a young skinny little guy...I hope he makes it..if one miracle comes out of this let it be him and let him be ok...the others legends can live on through him and he can tell the famlies stories of their loved ones last minutes, maybe messages ' tell my wife I love her..etc'

Mygirl, on CNN, at 3 am, Anderson Cooper said that one of the families ran out of the church and up to him and said that they are alive. Then Hatfield said in the last press conference I saw that someone in the mine had made the error when radioing him and he didn't want to indentify who it was.

 

[michelle]

Mygirl, on CNN, at 3 am, Anderson Cooper said that one of the families ran out of the church and up to him and said that they are alive. Then Hatfield said in the last press conference I saw that someone in the mine had made the error when radioing him and he didn't want to indentify who it was.

its been a terrible misunderstanding....