Race To Reach Trapped Miners

Rescuers who have traveled some 9,200 feet into a coal mine where 13 miners have been trapped since a 6:40 a.m. explosion on Monday were ordered early Tuesday to return to the surface, as a safety precaution, as a crew drilling an air hole prepared to punch into the mine.

The Sago mine, in Tallmansville, West Virginia, is located about 100 miles northeast of Charleston.

The condition of the miners is not yet known, but an official says they are trained to tap on whatever they can find - to let rescuers know their location.

"We will push forward as quickly as we can as long as there is a shred of hope that we can get our people out safely," said Ben Hatfield, C.E.O. of International Coal Group, which owns the mine.

Hatfield says the air in the mine was still breathable at 9,200 feet. Asked at a news conference why trapped miners wouldn't just walk out of the mine if air quality was satisfactory, he said they were trained to barricade themselves in an area with clean air and wait for rescuers if they thought there was danger.

The drill hole will enable rescuers to check the air quality and listen for signs of life.

Hatfield says a robot will then be used to move into the area of the mine where the miners are believed to be trapped. He says this will speed up the process, because the robot won't have to slow down if it encounters contaminated air. The robot will check the air for increased levels of carbon monoxide so human rescuers will know what they face.

The miners each carry a portable air purifying system which would give them as much as seven hours of clean air, said Tim McGee who works at the mine and is among those waiting nearby for word on the rescue.

It's believed the miners are about two miles beyond the entrance of the mine, and 260 feet below the surface.

"They can't give us any word – alive, or what – but we are hoping he is," said Loretta Ables, whose fiancé is among the trapped.

"I'm hanging on right now – it's hope right now," said Lila Muncy, whose brother is in the mine.

There are about 90 rescue workers at the mine, operating in rotating teams of six to eight. A lead team is advancing on foot, checking the air frequently, with a backup team traveling in battery-powered cars on a track.

Rescue workers had to wait over 11 hours after the explosion before entering the mine, because of dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide - a byproduct of combustion.

Rescuers are hoping the trapped miners were able to find a pocket of clean air where they could barricade themselves to wait for help.

"We believe in miracles in West Virginia," said Gov. Joe Manchin, after meeting with several hundred miners' relatives in the town. "I haven't given up hope."

Four co-workers tried to reach the miners immediately after the explosion but were stopped by a wall of debris, and the blast has knocked out the mine's communication equipment, preventing authorities from contacting the miners.

Asked about an AP report that the mine was cited for alleged safety violations 208 times last year, compared to 68 citations in 2005, a senior official at the company that owns the mine said Labor Department could have closed the mine if it were deemed unsafe.

"We think that we were operating a safe mine. We have no real clue about what triggered this explosion," said International Coal Group Senior Vice President Gene Kitts.

Kitts said the miners each have between 3 and 30 years experience.

"This is not a rookie crew underground," he addded. "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."

According to the U.S. Labor Department, regulators' allegations against the Sago Mine included failure to dilute coal dust, which can lead to explosions, and failure to properly operate and maintain machinery, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

Ninety-six of the citations were considered "significant and substantial" by inspectors.

In 2004, the most recent year for which data is available, the mine's injury rate per hours worked was nearly three times the national rate for a mine of its type. Eight injuries were reported that year.

The mine was idle over the holiday and the explosion occurred as the first shift of miners entered to resume production, said Lara Ramsburg, spokeswoman for Gov. Manchin.

"As they were heading in, the car in the back either heard or felt some type of explosion. They headed back out. The first car never made it back out," said Ramsburg.

The cause of the explosion is not yet known, but Ramsburg said officials believe it could have been caused by a lightning strike. A series of severe thunderstorms moved through West Virginia early Monday.

Mines can be vulnerable to explosions because flammable elements like methane gas can build underground, although ventilation systems are used to clear it out.

Co-workers and the families of those trapped underground have gathered at the Sago Baptist Church, which is across the road from the mining complex.

"I want them to go up there and drill a hole into the top of that place there and get them out of there," said Judy Shackelford, whose brother is among those trapped. "My heart's been beating like 90, really nervous, really upset, really upset."

"Every day he would come home and pray for who was going in," said Daniel Merideth, whose father-in-law, Alby Martin Bennett, is among the trapped, and has been looking forward to his retirement later this year. "Right now he is probably in there witnessing to people. He would be organizing and praying."

"I know what they're feeling,"

Emergency workers at the scene are monitoring the mine's ventilation system to make sure the mine is not on fire.

ICG acquired the Sago Mine last March when it bought Anker West Virginia Mining Co., which had been in bankruptcy.

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

The explosion is the state's worst mining accident since February 2003, when three contract workers were killed by a methane explosion while drilling an air shaft at a Consol Energy Mine near Cameron. The state ended 2005 with three mining fatalities, the lowest since 2000.

In September 2001, 13 coal miners were killed in a series of explosions at a mine in Broached, Alabama. Ten miners had rushed in to rescue co-workers injured by an explosion, only to be killed themselves by a second blast. That was the nation's worst mining accident since Dec. 19, 1984, when fire killed 27 coal miners near Orangeville, Utah.

Nine miners were rescued after being trapped for 77 hours in the Quecreek Mine near Somerset, Pa., in July of 2002.

Those miners had broken through a wall to an abandoned mine filled with decades of stormwater runoff, pinning them 240 feet underground.

Their rescue used water pumps to stem the flooding, while a small airshaft and larger escape shaft were drilled.

The miners survived by finding higher ground, then huddling together to keep warm and sharing a paltry food supply until help finally arrived.