Good news (we hope). All three cable nets are reporting that 12 of the trapped miners have been reported as having been found alive…
AP has the breaking story here. The news, so far unconfirmed by officials, seems to be coming from “Family Members”. We pray they have good info:
Bells at a church where relatives had been gathering rang out as family members ran out screaming in jubilation.
Relatives yelled “They’re alive!”
…
Neither the company nor the governor’s office immediately confirmed the news.
…
A relative at the church said a mine foreman called relatives there, saying the miners had been found.
One of the minors was reportedly found dead earlier this afternoon.
I had hoped to post something on this today — and perhaps David Edwards can update this item with some video — but I was tremendously moved and impressed by the remarks and demeanor at the Press Conference very late last night (about 2am PT) by Ben Hatfield, the CEO of the mining company, International Coal Group Inc. His apparent candor and willingness to take all questions from reporters is something not often seen these days from CEO’s or others who find themselves at such pressers (elected officials especially, of course). Hopefully David can add some video to this item, or the commenters can jump in with appropriate links to relevant items. A short account of the conference late last night is here.
UPDATE: WV Governor seems to now be confirming:
VERY LATE UPDATE: 2:38am Tragic news. The reports were all apparently wrong. All but one miner was found dead. Just now from AP…
The devastating news came more than three hours after Gov. Joe Manchin announced he had been told 12 of the miners survived the disaster. Rescue crews found the first victim earlier Tuesday evening.
“About the confusion, I can’t tell you of anything more heart-wrenching than I’ve ever gone through in my life. Nothing,” Manchin said.
hope they get this story right at least…
Um. Brad, buddy, love ya but they don’t send children to go find coal underground.
😀
Very very happy news!
Jim – I finally report some good news, and you *still* find something to complain about! 😉
(Typo fixed, thanks, I thought those folks were a little young to be doing such dangerous work! 😉
some miners are traped and are now saved…wow, big news…hasn’t this happened like 200 times before….might as well report on some drunk that is fleeing away from the cops as I speak.
cheers to th miners…i guess
Sadly, the reports of 12 survivors appear to have been false, and 11 of the 12 (after the first had been found dead) also died in the accident:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10682163/
Soul Rebel
Why do you think they lied about the casualties? Who’s hiding what, and what is the governor of West Virginia into anyone know?
Doug
Yeah, I thought it was pretty weird that reports of survivors came from the "command center" of the rescue team. I was listening to someone on the radio tonight about the safety violations in that particular mine, how they had been cited over and over again, then they were sold to a different company and "apparently" had been working on fixing whatever the code violations were…but perhaps they were given a "pass" knowingly – I mean this code violation shit is passed over all the time I’m sure, it’s only a matter of time before someone’s ass gets caught in the grinder because of it. I wonder if there will be any criminal liability leveled at the mine owners and/or whoever signed off on them operating under subpar conditions.
And, as usual, the working man gets stuck with the bill. Hope those families sue for all they can get.
Yeah well it sounds like another neocon setup to me…..I just wonder what the hell they are doing over there, and why the Governor can not just come out in public and say what in the world is going on……Its getting so convenient for people to just have ‘accidents’
Is this another Governor Taft West Virginia has?
Doug
To quote from Paul Begala book “It’s the Economy, Stupid.”
“Finally –and unbelievably-Bush’s budget calls for cutting $3.6 million –6 percent- and 46 positions from the “Mine Safety and Health Administration". All of us who remember the heroic rescue of the courageous Pennsylvania coal miners who where trapped underground for days have caught a glimpse of the dangers mineworkers face. And many of us remember Bush rushing to a photo op with the rescued miners. Mining is dangerous work. Forty two coal miners died in 2001 , thirteen of them in a single blast in Alabama. Yet Dubya has turned his back on the miners who entrusted him with their votes. Those coal miners’ votes allowed Bush to carry the West Virginia, which allowed him to claim the White House.(If Al Gore had won West Virginia , it wouldn’t have mattered who won Florida; Gore would be in the White House, and min safety would not have been cut.)
That’s just awful….well I hope another lawsuit or even a RICO gets started here, I feel for the Governor now since apparently they have been rendered impotent and gotten virtually no federal money….
Doug E.
If they go by workmans comp laws, the families won’t get shit
They have watered down the individual states comp laws
so much (when no ones looking of course)
the neglegence part is almost impossible to prove
I know, I went through it already, permanently disabled,
I didn’t get a dime
Bet you won’t see that on the news
False hope is worse than no hope. This must be harder for the families to accept than if they were told the truth straight away.
I’d reserve judgment on why the mistake occurred until the truth is known. Unlike election fraud, this is the kind of misinformation the media will go after with both barrels, because specific victims can be isolated and spoken for.
12 alive, except they are dead.
Let’s back off and let this tragedy alone. It isn’t about lying or OSHA regulations or strip mining legislation.
Oh, but it is about stripping the American workers Rights
from A to Z, another good Rebpukan Family value, profit
over people thing
I’m sure the laws can get restored and there is other unions….I don’t know why West Virginia has fallen to Ohio’s status though.
Doug E
West Virginia is like Ohio in that "family values" and gun control have taken priority over labor issues in both states.
It’s a "What’s the Matter with Kansas?" deal. Workers vote against their economic self-interests because somebody has persuaded them that lousy working conditions and sub-standard pay are worth putting up with, because otherwise government will take their hunting rifles away and force them to teach their kids "unproven theories" like evolution.
One big difference is that Bush won West Virginia fair and square. He didn’t win Ohio that way, even though Bubba Clinton said he did.
You know, an otherwise sane worker would vote against his well being for the 3 G’s
I started to notice, even in Minnesota, the Limbaughization was starting to take hold there amongst the younger people before I left
I could see it in the way the elections were going too
In every race, they were getting closer and closer, even when "The Body" was running, there was a pervasive stupidity in the air that I couldn’t understand
After I moved to California I could see what was happening there, instead of the workers sticking together, it was more I got mine, so fuck you attitude
So, if thats the trend people, watch out, Democracy will not stand if this is the future
May they all rest in peace. My heart is with the poor families who have lost loved ones. If any good can come of this tragedy let us hope the cause of this disaster can be found, corrected, and never repeated in any mine anywhere. Terribly, terribly sad.
I thought to myself this morning that the idiots over at BB would find away to blame Bush for this. I dismissed that thought as folly. Low and behold I come here and find, Bush is responsible.
You people are unreal.
I don’t know that anybody here is blaming Bush for what happened in the West Virginia coal mine.
Here’s what I’ve been reading elsewhere, laced with a few comments of my own:
Apparently the press or some citizens were monitoring cell phone communications and heard about the 12 miners being discovered. Someone passed the word and everyone became jubilant at their rescue.
The coal mine company (to their credit) didn’t report that. The governor, not a bad guy at all, made a mistake and said he was being told the 12 had been discovered alive. While it may have been truthful that he was being told he shouldn’t have said that without better confirmation. The coal mine company also made a mistake of not correcting the record immediately. They let several hours go by without telling the public that it wasn’t true that all 12 had been rescued alive.
When it was discovered that 11 of those last 12 discovered were dead the awful news came out. Naturally everyone who thought the miners had been rescued alive was terribly distraught.
First, we can blame the government and the coal mine company who let miners go into the unsafe mine. Apparently they’d received a big handful of violations not long before this disaster. The governor has said the change-over from a closed mine for the holidays to an open mine afterward should be looked at.
Second, we can blame whomever was monitoring cell phones and reported the 12 had been found alive. That’s bad reportage.
Third, we can blame the governor for his too-casual statement which built up the hopes of the people. I hope the peson who told him is also very ashamed.
Finally, we could blame Bush. Why? Just because.
The Republican attitude toward business and labor has been very cavalier with the lives of common folk and this coal mine disaster is only one of many examples. Spying on Americans without a warrant is of an entirely different kind, but it too reflects this genuine disregard of the public that George has. I don’t think Clinton or Carter would’ve done the same.
Went to bed last night after hearing 12 had survived.
Woke up to the opposite.
What a blow to those families. My heart goes out to them.
Ricky lets be right about this. Bush is not responsible. He has never been responsible.
Ricky "you are doing a really good job". It was your fault Ricky.
Nobody blamed Bush for the mining accident. Ricky just made that up.
Ricky makes a lot of stuff up. Same as Bush does. What’s hard to understand is why Ricky makes stuff up about people, then tries to sell it those same people. At least when Bush makes something up, it’s about people halfway around the world that nobody knows.
What Ricky does is kind of dumb, if you think about it. Because the people he’s making stuff up about know they didn’t say whatever he said they said, yet he’s trying to prove that they did. To them. It’s like a medicine man trying to sell phony stuff to a doctor.
Must be hard to be a troll. I’d rather be a medicine man.
Ricky’s Snake Oil available by the gallon ,cures free thinking ,allows perfect tunnel vision and is perfect for knee jerk reactions.
Wonder who would monitor cell phone communications ?
photo ops are getting harder to find.
Ay yi yi and we wonder why we have crazy elections…..
Jim: I just found out my represenative is linked straight to Abramoff. No worries for me, in fact I hope this guy goes down for sure.
I’m actually praying he gets thrown right out…..Chris Cannon has never done anyone any good, a real vomit inducer…..
Doug E
This is more the fault of the federal government and Bush’s people for not giving federal money to the state government.
It sounds like the state was short on real resources, or at least reliable ones, once again.
Doug E
There were over 270 violations, a third major. My question, why was this mine even open?? Very, very unsafe! Maybe a union could have made a difference. My heart and prayers goes to all families.
Them there folks did’t prey hard enough, preyin’s Hard work ya no
Brad,
This entire story illustrates perfectly why I love your blog so much. I only wish the MSM and the "authorities" on the ground had been blessed with your sense of responsibility and integrity and refrained from publishing an unsubstantiated rumor. My heart goes out to all the victims of this SNAFU.
Czaragorn #31
Me too.
This illustrates, to some degree, how easy it is to manipulate the MSM.
They were so vulnerable to bogus information and it hurt people. Really, really, hurt people.
Take note MSM: there are other stories that you have done, are doing, and will do, that are manipulating you and hurting Americans.
Don’t wait for someone "official" to tell you what the news is, dig up the truth about voting machines, the lies about Iraq, the lies about how Iraq and other funds got to neoCon campaign coffers, spying on Americans, Rove lies, and stolen elections.
Don’t wait … dig it …
Jon Stewart had a good bit at the front of his Jan 4 program regarding the miners. He commended the press on being there to report the good and bad news, but then he said what I’ve been thinking ever since (and what I’m sure most of us think whenever something like this happens)
(I’m paraphrasing here)
"Leave the families alone! Stop asking them how it feels, it feels LOUSY! Unless you think you really might find an answer other than some version of "shitty", stop asking the question!!"