Ben Hatfield
Ben Hatfield
The Sago Mine disaster was a coal mine explosion on January 2, 2006, at the Sago Mine in Sago, West Virginia, United States, near the Upshur County seat of Buckhannon. The blast and collapse trapped 13 miners for nearly two days; only one survived. It was the worst mining disaster in the United States since the Jim Walter Resources Mine Disaster in Alabama on September 23, 2001, and the worst disaster in West Virginia since the 1968 Farmington Mine Disaster...
company interest involved mine operated time year
We have no interest in getting into finger-pointing of what went on a year ago. This is a mine that operated for some significant time before my company was involved with it.
allowed good information longer process trying
We were trying to get them good information and in the process of being cautious, we allowed the jubilation to go on longer than it should have.
rules
In the jubilation of the moment, the rules didn't hold.
best care certainly draw employees level meeting paid weekend
In the interim, certainly this week, they are being paid and we're meeting with the employees over the weekend to draw up longer-term plans. We're going to do our very level best to take care of our people.
certainly hopes stretched thin
Hopes certainly are stretched thin at this point.
certainly confident employees explosion final highly joint knowledge pleased reach similar unusual word work
While our independent investigation is certainly not the final word on the explosion, we are confident that the joint federal-state investigation will reach a similar conclusion. We are pleased that we can get our Sago employees back to work with the knowledge that the explosion was an unpredictable and highly unusual accident.
blazing miles
We can't see 2 miles underground. We didn't know if there was a blazing fire.
clearly miracles situation
We are clearly in the situation where we need a miracle. But miracles happen.
hour likelihood outcome passes successful
With each hour that passes the likelihood of a successful outcome diminishes.
finger history interest violation
We're not going to get into the violation history or finger pointing. That's in no one's interest at this point.
drill received steel
We pounded on the drill steel and received no response. We'll do same.
allowed longer
We allowed the jubilation to go on longer than it should have.
believed communication factual rightly second statements suspicious
We were just as suspicious of the second communication as the first. We didn't know what to think. Rightly or wrongly, we believed it was important to make factual statements to the family.
believe benefit productive saying
We didn't believe there was any productive benefit of saying there could be one (victim), there could be 12. We have conflicting information.