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...
damage equipment evidence explosion survivors
No barricades or survivors were seen, but there was also no evidence of substantial explosion damage to the installed equipment that was in view.
accident cause circumstance federal mine state terrible thorough undertaken
A thorough investigation of the cause and circumstances of this terrible accident will be undertaken by federal and state mine regulatory officials.
possible survivors
No survivors were spotted. It's possible they are barricaded in another area.
add communication fact last night problems terrible
It is unfortunate and we are saddened by the fact that the communication problems we experienced last night only add to the terrible tragedy.
crew drill heard minute period process repeated several
They repeated this process several times over a 10 minute period but the drill crew heard no response.
forward moving performing rescue robot teams
The rescue teams are moving forward at an accelerated pace. They're moving faster, performing better than the robot was.
command information spread
That information spread like wildfire, because it had come from the command center.
location
They could be in another location or they could be barricaded somewhere.
family good looking people share
They were looking desperately for good information. These are friends, family of the people that are trapped. There was desperation for good information. They wanted to share it.
believe felt heard heavy miners percussion skilled system
They felt the percussion and heard the noise. We believe they probably encountered heavy smoke, and the ventilation system was obstructed. They then did what skilled miners do.
again certainly hearts hoped outcome prayed prayers
This is certainly not the outcome that we had hoped for and prayed for. So again our hearts and prayers go out to the families.
clinging families hope progress
Progress has been slow. Families are clinging to every hope of survival.
concern foremost people process risk throughout until
The foremost concern throughout this process has been that there are so many things we don't know about what went wrong. We don't want to put any more people at risk until we know answers.
difficult quarter
The first quarter was difficult emotionally for us and challenging from an operational standpoint.