lets pray for the miners in west virgina

[Banned]

TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - Rescue crews found one body late Tuesday in a West Virginia mine were 13 miners were trapped after an explosion, a mine company executive said.

John Groves, whose brother Jerry Groves is among the trapped miners, said Gov. Joe Manchin had announced to family members that rescuers found one body in a mine car.

Red Cross volunteer Tamila Swiger, who was inside the Sago Baptist Church, said family members were hyperventilating at the news.

There was no immediate word about the fate of the other 12 miners.

Even as hope dwindled, one top official noted that the portal bus, the vehicle the trapped miners used, was found by rescuers intact. “It is a good thing that the portal bus wasn’t devastated,” said Ben Hatfield, chief executive of International Coal Group Inc. of Ashland, Ky., the mine owner.

“The crew appears to have exited under their own power,” Hatfield said. “This raises a question of where they would have gone.”

Hatfield said the body was discovered about 700 feet from where the portal bus was located.

‘It's a nightmare’
The grim discovery came after rescuers pushed deeper into a mine shaft in a desperate search for the trapped miners. The prospects of finding anyone alive appeared bleak after holes drilled into the ground yielded deadly levels of carbon monoxide and no signs of life.

“It’s a nightmare, the worst news that we can possibly deliver to families waiting for good news,” Hatfield said. “Our hearts and prayers at this point are with the families.”

Mine officials said the body discovered was unidentified, but the relative of one of the trapped men expressed doubt.

“They know more than what they’re telling us,” Jim Bennett told MSNBC's Rita Cosby. Bennett's father was one of the miners trapped below.

‘The odds are against us’
By early evening, Hatfield said, rescuers were three to five hours from reaching the spot where the miners were thought to be, and some relatives said they were beginning to give up hope.

[SpellboundByMetal]

its very sad that stuff like this happens. i cant believe they havent gotten those dudes out yet.
i just prayed for them. seriously.

[Jim Price]

They're now reporting that twelve of the miners have been found alive, and rescue teams are being sent into the mine to get them out.

[Viva la Pelt]

The 12 miners were rescued! and are all ALRIGHT!

[Viva la Pelt]

I dont know how the news messed up this story so bad! But only one survivor made it! I just reported what CNN said and a half hour later they renigged what they reported! TERRIBLE TRAGEDY! Sorry for the false hope! My prayers are with the soul survivor and family!

[ToonaRockGuy]

Apparently, it was miscommunication based on heresay. Someone overheard a cell phone conversation saying that rescuers had found the miners, and someone assumed that they were all alive, and the story spread like wildfire. The families heard the news, and celebrated. However, nobody corrected the story for over 3 hours. That's unforgiveable. My family's prayers to all the families affected by this horrible event.

[Jim Price]

That sucks. My thoughts and prayers are with the families.

It's not the first time something like that has happened, as far as the miscommunication. In the current competitive news age, everybody is trying to out-scoop everyone else, and different news sources jump the gun on stories. Last year, different networks were reporting that Pope John Paul II was dead before he actually was (even the Catholic cable channel, EWTN, jumped the gun and had to later retract their report).

And remember ABC's Frank Reynolds blowing a gasket following the assassination attempt on President Reagan, because there was conflicting information and it was uncertain whether James Brady had died or survived.

In this instance, everybody was probably anxious to hear a Quecreek-type happy ending to this tragedy, and somebody jumped the gun based on that cell phone conversation. I heard it was an ugly scene, with family members lunging at the mine officials when they broke the bad news.

[Trucula]

I blame alot on the "MEDIA" ,,seems they LOVE and FEED off of "dirty laundry"...They only look for ratings....who has the best horror story...and "lets get someone to cry on TV"....I hate what they do to people....they only paint to us what they want us to see/feel..period!...if it would have turned out for the best...they'd have pulled the plugs and moved on to the next story...Like when the plane was trying to land with the wheels sideways...they had breaking story, cut in on every channel...watched the plane for hours and called everyone that was a pilot and as soon as he'd say they would be ok, they cut him off and went to the next guy...they wanted so bad for one to say"They are all going to die"...if they would have found that guy he'd have had an hour show....and they ask the dumbest stuff, like" What do you think is going thru the passengers minds now?" Thank god the airports remove the waiting people to a privite area and keep the media away... SAD

[AtoMikEnRtiA]

im not going to say anything in speculation of ANYTHING that happened, because obviously.. speculation has already blown up in this tragedy in a terrible and unfortunate way. so im just going to say..

i went to bed last nite relieved that 12 miners were found alive, sad for the 13th who was dead, but when i woke up this morning and heard 12 were dead, and 1 was in critical condition, it was a state of shock that came over me, as somebody who has NOTHING to do with this, as somebody who was "joe news-viewer" but the feeling was just.. without words, it's just amazing how when things like this happen, the swing of emotion not only defines and reveals character, but it shows the human resolve, and the incapibility that we as humans have to control ourselves in these cases. if that makes any sense...

my thoughts go to the families.. eventually somebody will have to explain how a mine, with such a bad record can be operational, but now is not the time...

[BDR]

This misinformation "wildfire" was apparently fueled by inaccurate reports filed by the Associated Press, the source most U.S. newspapers rely on for national and interntional news.

The problem is, morning newspapers (The Altoona Mirror, the CDT) usually put their editions to bed about midnight. Looking at the wire here at my desk, the first accurate report filed by the AP was 2:47 a.m. Prior to that, about 10 updates were sent through, all with the headline, Twelve miners reported alive after more than 41 hours trapped underground."

Moral of the story: Sometimes, people f@ck up.

r:>)

[AtoMikEnRtiA]

I blame alot on the "MEDIA" ,,seems they LOVE and FEED off of "dirty laundry"...They only look for ratings....who has the best horror story...and "lets get someone to cry on TV"....I hate what they do to people....they only paint to us what they want us to see/feel..period!...if it would have turned out for the best...they'd have pulled the plugs and moved on to the next story...Like when the plane was trying to land with the wheels sideways...they had breaking story, cut in on every channel...watched the plane for hours and called everyone that was a pilot and as soon as he'd say they would be ok, they cut him off and went to the next guy...they wanted so bad for one to say"They are all going to die"...if they would have found that guy he'd have had an hour show....and they ask the dumbest stuff, like" What do you think is going thru the passengers minds now?" Thank god the airports remove the waiting people to a privite area and keep the media away... SAD

you know, i was watching ABC 27 (Harrisburg - York - Lancaster - Lebanon) last nite, and it was Nightline or something on, and they interviewed this young, early 20-something male who's father was one of the miners. This kid's first name was Nate (cant remember his last) - and they did a piece on him, finding comfort in talking in front of cameras - they specifically asked him "You seem to be totally calm about all of this?" and he said "we'll find out in 30 mins how calm I really am" - turns out, that kid's father was the first body found - the news HAD to point that out, they couldn't just let a sensational news story about a kid who's facing tragedy in a calm matter go, they had to add that sad ending - it's sick.

[BDR]

they couldn't just let a sensational news story about a kid who's facing tragedy in a calm matter go, they had to add that sad ending - it's sick.

Sick? It's what happened.

Playing devil's advocate here, people complain about the media. People get angry about what's being writtten or reported in any given situation. But don't shoot the messenger simply because you don't like the message being delivered.

In this case, the guy's father died in a mine, something many were hoping would not happen. He and 11 others indeed died, which is "sick," but the media did not kill those miners. They're only reporting what happened and sometimes, the news is sick.

If there was nothing on about the incident, people would bitch about that.

r:>)

[AtoMikEnRtiA]

they couldn't just let a sensational news story about a kid who's facing tragedy in a calm matter go, they had to add that sad ending - it's sick.

Sick? It's what happened.

Playing devil's advocate here, people complain about the media. People get angry about what's being writtten or reported in any given situation. But don't shoot the messenger simply because you don't like the message being delivered.

In this case, the guy's father died in a mine, something many were hoping would not happen. He and 11 others indeed died, which is "sick," but the media did not kill those miners. They're only reporting what happened and sometimes, the news is sick.

If there was nothing on about the incident, people would bitch about that.

r:>)

no i agree, in cases like this, you need to report the truth, but it's sometimes in the manner in which it's done that is disturbing. in this case, it was the context, and not the content that was disturbing..

[bfoust]

It sickens me that with the technology we have, we didn't know they were dead. Both the mining company and the media are to blame.

The mining company for having over 300 health violations, and the news media for being the news media (Hey look, Bush picked his nose, TOP STORY!)

[AtoMikEnRtiA]

It sickens me that with the technology we have, we didn't know they were dead. Both the mining company and the media are to blame.

The mining company for having over 300 health violations, and the news media for being the news media (Hey look, Bush picked his nose, TOP STORY!)

this did remind me, i am quite dissapointed in the news coverage of some networks, some did alright, but the one that dissapoints me if faux news. (fox) - usually with stories and events like this they go into FOX NEWS ALERT and never leave - they didnt do too much of that yesterday, now they are, and they were last nite after 8:00 PM but not so much yesterday, and as much as i hate how the media can be at times, i do like that they cover a story a good bit, incase something were to happen.

[bfoust]

I mean seriously, how can you tell that 12 are alive without seeing/hearing all of them?

[SpellboundByMetal]

that really sucks that they have died. what a bunch of BS...or should i say NS

[f.sciarrillo]

I don't really blame the media for any of this. They were just reporting what they heard. It's like the governor of West Virginia said. he was supposed to bne notified before the families. When he wasn't notified he knew something was wrong.

I blame the company more than any of them. 208 violations should have shut that place down. This will probably force them out of business and then contend with a multi multi million dollar lawsuit. They still haven't held the press converence they said they would at 10:00 this morning ..

The families and the victims are in my prayers.

[f.sciarrillo]

I thas just been confirmed that it wa a mine forman who over heard the conversation. He then called a relative to let them know. It then spread after that ..

[AtoMikEnRtiA]

I don't really blame the media for any of this. They were just reporting what they heard. It's like the governor of West Virginia said. he was supposed to bne notified before the families. When he wasn't notified he knew something was wrong.

I blame the company more than any of them. 208 violations should have shut that place down. This will probably force them out of business and then contend with a multi multi million dollar lawsuit. They still haven't held the press converence they said they would at 10:00 this morning ..

The families and the victims are in my prayers.

its also just been reported that the current owners of this mine, had recently just purchased it - so they are handling a really bad legacy of neglegence here.. sucks, you almost would have to wonder if the company that sold this mine to the current owners knew something was going to go down sooner or later...

[RobTheDrummer]

The media sucks, period. They really ought to make sure all the facts are correct before they start spewing garbage. It happens all the time when "journalists" start spewing their own opinions into facts and making up their own turn on things. That's why I don't get into news and politics anymore it's all a bunch of shit!

[bassist_25]

On the plus side though, irresponsible journalists(*coughrichklindworthofWJACcough*) have helped inspire such things as the Snickers gimmick.

[Banned]

Well if you did see it the altoona mirror and the usa today both had stries that the miners where found alive Ihope that have to print a retration in the paper