Hope Turns To Heartbreak At Mine

There was the full gamut of human emotion outside a West Virginia mine overnight, from absolute glee and exuberance to indescribable pain and sense of loss.

At midnight, people were told that 12 of their 13 their loved ones were alive and they would soon be reunited, reports CBS News correspondent Jim Krasula. Then, a few hours later, came the astounding word that only one of the 13 miners trapped for nearly days below ground, had survived.

Most of the 13 coal miners survived the blast itself, retreated deeper into the mine and hung up a curtain-like barrier to keep out toxic gases while they waited to be rescued, officials said Wednesday.

One of the dead was found at least 700 feet from where the others had barricaded themselves in the maze-like mine, officials said. Ben Hatfield, chief executive of mine owner International Coal Group, said the miner was apparently killed by the force of the blast.

The cause of death for the other men was not immediately disclosed.

Meanwhile, doctors say the only survivor of the West Virginia mine explosion is responsive. They say Randal McCloy is squeezing hands when told to do so, and they expect to reduce his sedation Thursday and fully awaken him.

"Nobody really thought this mine accident would have a happy ending, but no one could have envisioned how much pain the families would suffer," reports

"Tell me why they've done this to our family!" cried one woman upon hearing the news.

"It was horrible. I felt like I was losing my heart. I couldn't believe it. No one could believe it," said a man.

Rescue crews had found the first victim earlier Tuesday evening.

When McCloy arrived at the hospital, he was unconscious but moaning, the hospital said.

"He responds to stimuli and that's good," Dr. Lawrence Roberts said at a briefing. "He's still critically ill, in intensive care. He suffered a collapsed lung."

There was no sign of carbon monoxide poisoning, Roberts said. Most of the other miners were in their 50s, and doctors said that McCloy's age may have helped him.

Thirteen miners had been trapped 260 feet below the surface of the Sago Mine since an explosion early Monday. The mine is located about 100 miles northeast of Charleston.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department has promised a full investigation of the accident. The White House said it has proposed a four-fold increase in fines and penalties for violations of mine safety regulations, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller.

As rescue workers tried to get to the men, families waited at the Sago Baptist Church during an emotional two-day vigil.

Late Tuesday night, families began streaming out of the church, yelling "They're alive!" The church's bells began ringing and families embraced, as politicians proclaimed word of the apparent rescue a miracle.

As an ambulance drove away from the mine carrying what families believed was the first survivor, they applauded, not yet knowing there were no others.

"Just in case you might be thinking maybe the families misheard, we were at our satellite truck when word was survivors were out and a nurse came up to the truck and came over and detailed the conditions of each of those 12 survivors," reports CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi. "So a lot of people are wondering how in the world this could happen, how could they get this information so wrong."

Hatfield blamed the wrong information on a "miscommunication." The news spread after people overheard cell phone calls, he said. In reality, rescuers had only confirmed finding 12 miners and were checking their vital signs. At least two family members in the church said they received cell phone calls from a mine foreman.

"That information spread like wildfire, because it had come from the command center," he said.

Three hours later, Hatfield told the families that "there had been a lack of communication, that what we were told was wrong and that only one survived," said John Groves, whose brother Jerry Groves was one of the trapped miners.

"There was no apology. There was no nothing. It was immediately out the door," said Nick Helms, son of miner Terry Helms.

Chaos broke out in the church and a fight started. About a dozen state troopers and a SWAT team were positioned along the road near the church because police were concerned about violence.

Company officials waited to correct the information until they knew more about the rescue, Hatfield said.

"I know Mr. Hatfield, being a human being, that he cannot be feeling very good right now and certainly has some soul searching himself to do," State Senator Randy White said on CBS News' The Early Show. "But, yes, for those families who had to have waited an additional 2 hours and 40 minutes to get the horrific news that they did, it was just not right."

"Let's put this in perspective. Who do I tell not to celebrate? I didn't know if there were 12 or 1 (who were alive)," Hatfield said.

The explosion was the state's deadliest mining accident since November 1968, when 78 men — including the uncle of Manchin — died in an explosion at Consol's Farmington No. 9 mine in Marion County, an hour's drive north of here. It was that disaster that prompted Congress to pass the Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969.

"We had known from day one that ... the odds were stacked against us, that we were in the most difficult of situations," Manchin told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.