Mine Board Gets Accident Updates

By Terry, Juliet A

The West Virginia Board of Coal Mine Safety and Health got an update on investigations into the state’s two mining accidents this month.

The Jan. 2 explosion at International Coal Group’s Sago mine in Upshur County killed 12 of 13 miners trapped underground. Survivor Randal McCloy Jr., who suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning, is improving but still is in a light coma.

A Jan. 19 belt fire at Massey Energy subsidiary Aracoma Coal Co.’s Alma No. 1 mine in Logan County left two men dead. Nineteen others were able to escape the mine, including 10 men who had to leave behind two of their crew members who inexplicably had fallen behind.

Terry Farley, an administrator with the state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training, gave the board an update into both accident investigations Jan. 24. The board is mandated by statute to investigate every mining accident in West Virginia and, when necessary, recommend changes to coal mine policies, procedures and training.

Sago Update

Farley said mine rescue teams have been underground at the Sago mine for several days, working their way back to where the explosion occurred in a sealed-off portion of the mine.

Crews finally were able to go underground Jan. 20, he said, and the recovery effort was broken into five phases. Each phase involved advancing freshair stations, inspecting mine controls, energizing pumps and repairing ventilation systems.

By Jan. 25, the recovery effort was set to enter the final phase, which would take them to where the explosion is thought to have occurred.

The mine is ventilated through a 24-inch bore hole, and Farley said mine officials have started interviewing people associated with the accident. He said even though the Sago mine has several natural gas wells in its vicinity, they have not been liberating any excess gas.

Each rescue team that enters the mine has either a state mine inspector or someone from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration with them to make certain the teams do not disturb areas critical to the accident investigation, Farley said.

“As for what the rescue teams have seen so far, he said he’s been told there is damage as far as 2,000 feet from the old seals.”

Board member Chuck Boggs said he hoped the board would be able to visit the mine and see the damage for themselves. Farley said he would ask Doug Conaway, director of the state mine safety office, whether that would be allowed.

Aracoma Update

The Aracoma accident started with what investigators believe was a fire on a belthead.

One miner who was able to escape the blaze told CNN the smoke was so thick they could not see their hands in front of their faces and several miners lost their goggles on their way to an escape route. The miners kept hold of each other in a chain until they reached another crew that evacuated them on a piece of diesel equipment. The miner, who asked not to be identified, said only when his team met up with another mine crew did they realize two men had fallen behind.

During the 46-hour search for the missing miners, rescue teams also reported poor visibility because of heavy smoke.

Farley said the fire eventually spread into the coal, but rescue crews had been working around the clock to extinguish it.

“We were told that as of late Monday (Jan. 23), that we believe the fire is out,” he said. “We are still monitoring it 24/7, but there has been no carbon monoxide reported in the fire area.”

Farley took the board members through a schematic of the Aracoma mine, which is much larger than the Sago mine. He said it takes 45 minutes to one hour to go from the mouth of the mine to their area where the fire broke out.

The two missing miners were found dead in separate places, with one of them located quite close to the fire and another found farther away.

Farley was able to enter the mine and see the fire area, which he said shows obvious damage.

“We’ll do the best we can to find out what happened,” he said.

Copyright State Journal Corporation Jan 27, 2006