Sago Mine disaster

At approximately 6:30 a.m. on January 2 2006, thirteen coal miners were trapped in the Sago Mine (pronounced SAY-go) at Tallmansville (near Buckhannon) in Upshur County, West Virginia, in the United States. Current reports state that an explosion deep within the mine shaft is to blame for the incident.

Toxic gas concentrations in the mine led to delays in starting rescue efforts. Tests taken through holes drilled from the surface show that the air near where the miners were last known to be shows lethal levels of carbon monoxide (CO); although the miners may have been able to take refuge. One fatality, Terry Helms, was confirmed. Helms was the mine's fire boss. The Associated Press and Reuters have reported that the other 12 miners were found alive, more than 41 hours after the incident began[1] [2]. CNN and MSNBC now report that there was, in fact, only one survivor, Randal McCloy, who was in critical but stable condition.

The explosion

It was the beginning of the first shift after the mine had been closed for the New Year holiday weekend. Two carts of miners were making their way into the mine to begin work when the explosion, heard and felt by many residents outside the mine, took place.

Six on the second cart were able to escape. The thirteen missing miners were on the first cart, which may have passed the point where the explosion occurred. Several of those on the second cart tried to return down the shaft and rescue their coworkers. They made it as far as 9,000 feet (2,743.2 m) down the shaft before air quality monitors indicated there was too much carbon monoxide (CO) to proceed further.

The remainder were believed to be located approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) along the slanting mine shaft, at an approximate depth of 280 feet (85.3 m) below ground. Rescuers have tried all day to make a rescue and at this writing, are making progress, with five four-man teams attempting to make their way down the 5.5-foot (167 cm)-high shaft. They have made it 10,200 feet (3,108.9 m) down the shaft as of 12:40 p.m. January 3. It is believed the trapped miners are somewhere between 11,000 to 13,000 feet (3,352 to 3,962.4 m) along the shaft.

Rescuers had to wait 12 hours before beginning to reach them due to toxic concentrations of carbon monoxide and methane gas in the shaft after the explosion, which to some suggested a fire. Since the blast also disabled the mine's internal communications system, it is unknown whether any of the 13 survived and, if so, what condition they are in. They had air-purifying equipment which would give them seven hours of breathable air but no oxygen tanks. If they did survive the explosion, however, emergency supplies are stored in many 55-gallon drums within the mine, making it possible they could hold out for some length of time before rescue.

The mine

The Sago Mine is operated by the Ashland, Kentucky, based International Coal Group (ICG), which bought its original owner, Anker West Virginia Mining Company, in November 2005 after Anker went bankrupt. Originally opened in 1999, it was closed for two years in 2002. At the time of the explosion, it employed 145 miners and produced 800,000 tons (720,000 tonnes) of coal a year. It is a slope mine

Safety violations and injuries

In 2005 the mine was cited by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) 208 times for violating regulations, up from 68 in 2004. Of those, 96 were considered significant and substantial. Similarly, West Virginia's Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training issued 144 citations over that year, up from 74 the previous year.

Some of those were for violations that could have had been factors in the accident, such as failure to control methane and coal-dust accumulation, failure to properly shore up shafts against collapse and overall deficiencies in emergency planning.

MSHA records also showed miners at Sago had suffered 42 injuries that resulted in lost work time since 2000. In 2004 the mine's injury rate for hours worked was nearly three times the national average. A neighbor of one of the trapped miners told the media that the man had recently expressed concern that he could be killed "because of the idiots at the mine."

Kitts noted that most of the safety violations occurred early in the year and were addressed through providing better equipment and training. He said that MSHA could easily have closed the mine if it were deemed truly unsafe.

Some have suggested that the severity of the accident's aftermath was caused in part by inadaquate safety standards endorsed by the MSHA under David Lauriski, who was George W. Bush's appointment to head the agency [3]. Among other problems, they cite the rejection of a proposed standard, "Escapeways and Refuges", by Lauriski's administration, which would have provided for additional escape routes for trapped miners.

Cause of explosion

It is not known what caused the explosion. Some early reports suggested a lightning strike near the mineshaft may have ignited volatile gases. While there was a thunderstorm in the area at the time, no one witnessed a lightning strike near the mine entrance. An inspection at 5:50 a.m., that morning cleared the mine for use.

In wintertime, methane has been known to pool in mines where it could more easily ignite, due to changes in barometric pressure. This has been cited as a cause of other mining accidents in cold weather.

Rescue

Even after the gases abated, rescuers had to proceed with caution. Safety regulations require that they must continually test for dangers to themselves such as water seeps and gas concentrations, limiting their rate of progress to 1,000 feet (304.8 m) an hour. They have been checking in every 500 feet (152.4 m), and then disconnecting their telephones until the next checkpoint in order to avoid the possibility of a spark creating another explosion. MSHA had deployed a 1,300-lb. (520 kg) robot into the mineshaft as well, but pulled it out after it got bogged down in mud 70 feet (21 m) from the mine entrance.

Two 6.25-inch (15.9 cm) holes were been drilled into the mineshaft from above into areas where the miners were believed to be. Microphones and video cameras lowered into them for ten-minute periods did not find any signs of life, however. Air quality tests performed through the first one on the morning of January 3 that indicated CO levels in that part of the shaft were at 1,300 parts per million, over three times the 400 parts per million tolerance of the human body. Officials called this "very discouraging." A second hole encountered groundwater and could not be drilled all the way down.

However, the miners were very experienced and trained to find a safe part of the tunnel and barricade themselves into it in the event of an explosion or collapse. Experts expected that a third hole, if successful, could expand the opening and provide a better way of rescuing the miners than going the long way down the shaft.

Only one miner, Randy McCloy, was found alive. Twelve miners were initially thought to be alive, but these reports were false.

The one body recovered, mine fireman Terry Helms, was 700 feet (213 m) past the cart the miners were riding. The cart itself was apparently undamaged, providing an indication that the other 12 miners were able to find some shelter and await rescue.

Public response

Family members of the missing miners gathered at the nearby Sago Baptist Church for prayers and an all-night vigil until they could receive word. Neighbors and friends brought food and drinks to them. Governor Joe Manchin, who lost an uncle in the 1968 Farmington Mining Disaster, joined them on January 2, 2006, after flying in from Atlanta, Georgia, where he was to have watched the West Virginia University Mountaineers football team play in the Sugar Bowl. Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito also joined the governor to support the family members of the miners on January 2, 2006.

Only one miner was found alive, after erronous reports that twelve were alive. The survivor is Randy McCloy.

External links

• MSHA page on incident

References

• ABC News; January 3, 2006 Rescuers Break Ground in Miner Mission.
• Barnes, Jonathan; January 3, 2006 West Virginia mine rescue makes slow progress, Reuters.
• BBC News and Current Affairs; January 3, 2006 Hopes fade for trapped US miners.
• BBC News and Current Affairs; January 4, 2006 Last push to save trapped miners.
• BBC News and Current Affairs; January 4, 2006 'Miraculous' rescue for US miners.
• Bowling, Brian and Conti, David; January 2 2006 Condition of trapped miners in West Virginia unknown. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
• Breed, Allen; January 4, 2006 Families Say 12 W.Va. Miners Found Alive. Associated Press.
• Dao, James; January 3, 2006 Blast Traps 13 in a Coal Mine in West Virginia. The New York Times.
• Duke, Armando; January 2, 2006 Explosion at W. VA Coal Mine Traps Workers. AXcessNews.com.
• Messina, Lawrence; January 2, 2006 Coal mine reports spate of citations. Associated Press.
• Smith, Vicki; January 3, 2006 Families Are Told Body Found in W.Va. Mine. Associated Press.
• Tyson, Ann Scott and Vedantam, Shankar; January 3, 2006 W. Va. Mine Explosion Traps 13. Washington Post.
• Ward, Ken Jr.; January 3, 2006 Sago mine has history of roof falls. Charleston Gazette.
• Yates, Jennifer; January 3, 2006 Company discouraged by air quality where 13 coal miners trapped, Associated Press.