Probes Under Way In Mine Tragedy
Investigations Into Why, How It Happened And Overall US Mine Safety
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Play CBS Video Video Honoring The Last Coal Miners The last two funerals for the men who died in a coal mine explosion in the Sago, W.Va., will be held today The lone survivor, Randal McCloy, is still in critical condition.
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Video A Miner's Life Only On The Web: West Virginia remembered three men who died as a result of a mine explosion. Randall Pinkston says the community will regroup and go back to their dangerous jobs.
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The casket of Sago miner Fred Ware, Jr. of Buckhannon, W.Va., is carried out of the Sago Baptist Church Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006, lead by Ware's son Darrell Ware, far right, and son-in-law Aaron Cohen, second from right, in Tallmansville, W.Va. (AP Photo)
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Twelve black ribbons tied on the perimeter fence of the Sago Mine in Tallmansville, W.Va., Jan. 8, 2006. (AP)
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Doug Conaway, state director of miner's health, safety and training, speaks during a news conference, Jan. 9, 2006, in Charleston, W.Va. (AP)
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Photo Essay Vigil For Miners A community gathers together to light candles in remembrance of 12 miners.
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In The Spotlight West Virginia Mining Tragedy Video Coverage: Stunned West Virginia town where joy turned to despair after news of all, except one, trapped miners are dead.
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Photo Essay All Hope Lost Anguish besets a West Virginia town as 12 of 13 miners are found dead after an explosion.
Doctors treating McCloy at West Virginia University's Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown declined to speculate on when the 26-year-old would fully wake up from a medically induced coma, or comment on the extent of any brain damage he might have suffered.
But physicians said that McCloy's brain stem appeared to be normal, and that a fever is common for patients in intensive care. McCloy was breathing on his own, although he remained connected to a ventilator as a precaution, and was responding to stimuli, doctors said.
Federal and state mine safety officials said they would hold joint public hearings on the accident. Meanwhile, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., said federal mine safety officials would be called to testify before a Senate subcommittee that would hold hearings into the disaster beginning Jan. 19.
"It's time for the decisions affecting America's miners to be made with their best interests at heart," Byrd said in a statement. "That should be the legacy of the Sago miners."
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., also called for hearings into the specific issue of coal mine safety. He said Congress had not held a comprehensive oversight hearing of the federal Mine Health and Safety Administration since 2001.
Also Monday, Manchin named J. Davitt McAteer, who oversaw the federal MSHA during the Clinton administration, to serve as his consultant, oversee the work of state and federal investigators, and issue a report on the disaster by July 1.
McAteer said legitimate questions exist about the number of citations at Sago Mine, which had 208 alleged violations of federal mine rules in 2005. The mine's owner, International Coal Group Inc., has said it is working to correct the violations inherited from the mine's former owner.
"We have made tremendous strides in this country in terms of production," McAteer said. "We are in the 21st century in terms of the way we can produce the coal. We simply haven't brought the health and safety aspects of mining into the 21st century."
©MMVI CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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