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Air Quality Tests in Mine Discouraging

Posted on: Tuesday, 3 January 2006, 12:00 CST

By JENNIFER C. YATES

TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - A mining company executive said officials are "very discouraged" by air quality tests in the mine where 13 workers are trapped, and planned to drill a third hole to take additional air samples.

Ben Hatfield, chief executive officer of mine owner International Coal Group Inc. said tests found that carbon monoxide levels far exceed federal regulatory limits in the Sago Mine 24 hours after an explosion.

Hatfield made the comments after rescuers trying to reach the trapped miners successfully punched a hole into the mine early Tuesday. A camera was inserted into the 6 1/4 inch hole to look for signs of life.

Drilling crews pounded on steel pipe and listened for a response in the section of the mine where the trapped miners were believed to be located, Hatfield said.

Hatfield said the trapped miners could still be alive.

"They could be in another location or they could be barricaded somewhere," Hatfield told reporters.

"We're still hoping for that miracle as you know," West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin told ABC's "Good Morning America."

Some family members, who had been optimistic and talkative earlier, retreated into a nearby church without making any comments.

Several hundred family members and friends waited for word on the miners, including Daniel Merideth, the son-in-law of trapped miner Alby Martin Bennett, who had planned to retire this year.

"Every day he would come home and pray for who was going in," said Merideth. "Right now he is probably in there witnessing to people. He would be organizing and praying."

The blast occurred at about 6:40 a.m. Monday, trapping the miners 260 feet below the surface of the mine, located about 100 miles northeast of Charleston.

The rescue teams entered the mine more than 11 hours after the blast. They were kept out of the mine for most of the day because of dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide.

Earlier Tuesday, rescuers had penetrated more than 9,000 feet into the Sago coal mine but were ordered to return to the surface Tuesday for safety reasons before the drilling crew punched into the mine.

The miners carry individual air purifying systems that would give them up to seven hours of clean air, said Tim McGee, who works at the mine and was among those at the Sago Baptist Church. They do not carry oxygen tanks, he said.

Gene Kitts, a senior vice president for mine owner International Coal Group, said the miners each had between 3 and 30 years experience and are trained to try to tap on roots, waterlines, anything possible, to alert rescuers of their location.

"This is not a rookie crew underground," Kitts said. "So we're just trusting that their training and their mining instincts have kicked in immediately ...

"We will expect to be there quick enough so that food, water, those sorts of issues probably will not come into play," Kitts said.

Coal mine explosions are typically caused by buildups of naturally occurring methane gas, and the danger increases in the winter months, when the barometric pressure can release the odorless, colorless and highly flammable gas.

The mine had been idle on Saturday and Sunday, and two groups of miners were to resume production on Monday. A fire boss went into the mine before the first group entered the mine at 5:51 a.m. and declared it was safe.

The second group of miners entered at 6:30 a.m., just before power went out in the mine. The second group withdrew.

ICG acquired the Sago Mine (pronounced SAY-goh) last March when it bought Anker West Virginia Mining Co., which had been in bankruptcy. The Sago Mine had annual production of about 800,000 tons of coal, the company said.

Federal inspectors cited the mine for 46 alleged violations of federal mine health and safety rules during an 11-week review that ended Dec. 22, according to records.

The more serious alleged violations, resulting in proposed penalties of at least $250 each, involved steps for safeguarding against roof falls, and the mine's plan to control methane and breathable dust. The mine received 208 citations from MSHA during 2005, up from 68 citations in 2004.

The state Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training issued 144 notices of violation against the mine in 2005, up from 74 the year before.

Kitts said safety at the mine has improved dramatically since ICG took over and the company is working closely with regulatory agencies to make further improvements.

"We think that we are operating a safe mine," he said. "We have no real clue about what triggered this explosion or what happened today."

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AP writer Vicki Smith in Tallmansville and Lawrence Messina in Charleston contributed to this story.

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On the Net:

Federal Mine Health and Safety Administration:

http://www.msha.gov

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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