Miners Trapped In WV Coal Mine

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Hatfield is not with the union.....he is the CEO of the company. To my knowledge, this particular area is not unionized.

I heard the medical update on McCloy a bit ago. He did NOT have carbon monoxide poisoning at the time of the test. Strange indeed. I wonder if the others were burned or something because the doctor seemed to make a point of saying a few times that McCloy had no burns on him.
 
Marthatex said:
Well, the person who is critical might not recover properly. If you don't get proper air to your brain for a period of time there is damage.

I'm not sure if you can recover from serious carbon monoxide poisoning, does anyone know?
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His father in law said test results came back negative for carbon monoxide in his system. I am praying he recovers.
 
Becba said:
Is that why so many newspapers like mine say 12 men found alive? The story was based on rumor and not confirmed. The media should not have went by what another person said they overheard.
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The front page of my papers headline was also 12 men found alive....when I dropped my baby off at inlaws this morning I handed grandpa the paper, he opened it, saw the headline, and said, HOW WONDERFUL, I then had to tell him story of what happened in the middle of the night.
 
Marthatex said:
Coal is becoming a "hot commodity", one of the energy sources we have alot of in this country. You would think we could make the conditions and pay a little better for the people who go down and mine this commodity - I would imagine most of the money goes, well, to the "big guys" - energy companies, stock holders, etc.? I wonder if they even get benefits or health insurance?
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I was born and raised in a small West Virginia town and have various family members that are miners. Miners do typically get very good benefits/health insurance. While growing up there were several mines within 50 miles. Some were better than others as many companies are. Another difference is that some were union and some were not. When questioning why men/women would do this job, keep in mind that these are the highest paying jobs in the area and as one poster said it's a family thing (grandfather, father, uncles, brothers, etc.) In my town best employers were Vepco (which is now Dominion Power), Westvaco (a paper mill, which after a merger was sold to an acquisition company), Bausch & Lomb (which closed in the early 90s), a tire plant that closed in the 80s or 90s. A limitied number of companies with pay scales below those listed above, but more than minimum wage and other jobs in the area pay minimum wage, at best. For young people that want to stay in the area with their family, working in coal mines seems like a great choice when thinking in terms of salary.

I lived probably 3 or so hours away from Sago. I have only been in that area once, and that was as a young child. So I don't really know what other employers are there to compete with the salary offered by coal mines.
 
Lone survivor in mine explosion suffering from dehydration, collapsed lung

MORGANTOWN, W.V. (CNN) -- The 27-year-old lone survivor from an explosion in a coal mine is suffering from severe dehydration and has a collapsed lung after his 41-hour ordeal, the doctor treating him said Wednesday.

Dr. Larry Roberts of Ruby Memorial Hospital told reporters that Randal McCloy was brought in to the facility around 3 a.m., after being initially treated at another hospital closer to the site of the Sago Mine.

"He is still critically ill and is in intensive care," the doctor said. "He suffered some collapse of one of his lungs, and we're trying to reopen that and there's good progress there."

Roberts said McCloy was still sedated and breathing with a breathing tube, but was moving and responding to stimuli. "We hope that we will try to awaken him later today or tomorrow," the doctor said.(Posted 8:21 a.m.)
 
Marthatex said:
It says on msn.com that some overheard cell phone conversations saying that the "rescuers had found them and were checking their vital signs." That was misinterpreted as they were alive. The governor heard "whooping" and even he announced it. He later said he had had reservations. Then Hatfield the union leader came and announced it had all been a mistake. The families say there were no apologies, etc. for the mix-up. Riots broke out. Everyone blaming everyone else.

They wanted it so "bad" everybody jumped to conclusions. That can happen - the newspapers probably had it printed either way and ran with it.

Oh, let's go back to old-fashioned ways, please, no cell phones and jump the gun media and politicos. Such a terribly handled situation.
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I hear you Marthatex! My heart is just breaking ... went to bed after watching local 10:30 news feeling so thankful. Turned on TV this am hoping to see miners being brought out alive and found out one made it. I thank God for this one survivor! But the families I saw last night .... the pain!
 
Sassygerl said:
His father in law said test results came back negative for carbon monoxide in his system. I am praying he recovers.
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I think that was the information given by the first hospital. I got the impression they really weren't equipped to do all the tests necessary. A doctor CNN interviewed said test for co2 can be difficult and elusive.

I just heard on Fox that co2 was detected
 
Yesterday afternoon, the news looked so grim, and bleak, that one survivor seems like very good news.

Prayers for the survivor, and the families of those who perished.
 
I heard the interview on Fox radio with the physician. He clearly stated that carbon monoxide was not detected at the time of the blood test. We may never know the right answers to any of this.
 
I went to bed last night watching the families celebrating they found 12 alive. Only to wake up to hear it was wrong. My heart is right now breaking. However one thing I heard this morning is they were told they found the 12 and someone ran with that and then the word alive was added. Also what I heard was the Gov. and Mining officals found out about 25 mins. later they were dead. Now knowing the families were all celebrating the firts news. And the second message came in from underground. The gov and Officlas were waiting for confirmation on exactley what was happening before they made another report. Now with that said I really can not blame them for that. BTW I guess there was a room with an open mike for transmissions coming from the bowels of the mines. Which was where they heard we Found the 12.

Regardless this is a very sad day. ANd May God be with all tghe familes in their time of Grief.
 
JDB said:
I went to bed last night watching the families celebrating they found 12 alive. Only to wake up to hear it was wrong. My heart is right now breaking. However one thing I heard this morning is they were told they found the 12 and someone ran with that and then the word alive was added. Also what I heard was the Gov. and Mining officals found out about 25 mins. later they were dead. Now knowing the families were all celebrating the firts news. And the second message came in from underground. The gov and Officlas were waiting for confirmation on exactly what was happening before they made another report. Now with that said I really can not blame them for that. BTW I guess there was a room with an open mike for transmissions coming from the bowels of the mines. Which was where they heard we Found the 12.

Regardless this is a very sad day. And May God be with all the families in their time of Grief.
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That's not the way I understood it. My understanding was when the first call from rescuers came up from the mine, everyone in the command center believed all 12 were indeed alive.

20 Minutes later the command centered learned that 12 alive was not correct, but did not have exact numbers of alive & dead and the command post was waiting for how many and their status. Some one that was at the commad center called some one at the church and passed on the 12 alive miscommunication.
 
I'm hesitant to believe anything the press says. If they can get such a mind-blowing fact wrong, I just don't know what to think.
 
Snip

"International Coal Group Chief Executive Officer Ben 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."

Fox news article
 
I also went to bed hearing that 12 had been found alive. I tried to stay awake for the press conference, but I fell asleep. I am saddened and disappointed to hear that this was not accurate and only one survived. Does anyone know the details of the one surviving member? I surely hope that he is not in critical condition and recovers. I wonder how old he is, etc...
 
I was about to go to bed at midnight but saw the news of the 12 found alive on CNN. I stayed up until 2am hoping to be able to see them coming out. I fell asleep on the couch waiting it out and then woke up to the news that only the one had survived. What a tragedy. the families are very emotional and angry and lashing out for being misled. I don't blame them and they are certainly not in an emotional state to be expected to understand how the misinformation came about. I am sure it was not intentional. Probably the result of eager individuals wanting to be the first to make a welcomed announcement. It is impossible to keep things contained anymore with cell phones and email. One bad rumor and it spreads like wildfire. Very sad.
 
Nan

He is 27 years old. His name is Randal McCloy and he is in critical condition. They have him under sedation and they are going to try and wake him either today or tomorrow.
 
nanandjim said:
I also went to bed hearing that 12 had been found alive. I tried to stay awake for the press conference, but I fell asleep. I am saddened and disappointed to hear that this was not accurate and only one survived. Does anyone know the details of the one surviving member? I surely hope that he is not in critical condition and recovers. I wonder how old he is, etc...
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Hiya Nan!

See my post #274
 
MrsMush99 said:
Nan

He is 27 years old. His name is Randal McCloy and he is in critical condition. They have him under sedation and they are going to try and wake him either today or tomorrow.
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Thanks so much. I pray that at least he survives. Is he single/married??
 
....first of all, by not attending to their mines - they'd been cited for safety violations before, and second, wire services reported this morning that the company knew that most of the miners had died...They couldn't have gone into the church where most of the families were gathered to tell them this?

From CNN - snippet - "Hatfield [mining exec.] said he knew within 20 minutes that an error had been made and that not all 12 were alive, but said he did not inform jubilant family members."

[bracketed info. added by me...]

[My fourth grader was upset and furious at the misleading newspaper headlines (she saw the one newspaper we get); she asked me to go to the pharmacy before school; she bought four more newspapers with her own money to take to school to show what happens when people are irresponsible with information like this...

Should be interesting since we have a terrible principal right now who, for the most part, does not allow ANY current events discussions in the classroom...my daughter said she doesn't care if she ends up in the office on this one..]

Sorry to cast aspersions here, but this sounds pretty heartless to me...

My husband made the comment that here we are in 2006, with all of our modern technology, and here these miners are, in a town with what sounds like a 17th century English name, working in just about the most primitive conditions known to man...

Prayers for the families of the miners who died, and God give the strength to the survivor to pull through...
 
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