Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Nefarious on January 02, 2006, 10:08:17 PM
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Doesnt look good.
The Rescue effort has been hampered by deadly gasses, venting from the mine, Happened this morning as the first shift back from the holidays entered the mine.
I was living in Pittsburgh when the Quecreek miners were trapped. And even though I was away from home, I felt a deep sorrow for them. Seems like a lot of places around here, have monuments dedicated to miners trapped forever. Now its happened again, Only a short drive away. Hopefully we will not have to see another monument for WV miners.
Looks like its gonna be a long night for 13 families in North Central WV.
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Wow, best wishes for all involved. I tried working underground once, didn't like it at all.
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Still no sign of them...But rescuers are now inside the cave searching.
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This is really sad. They found one body, and a mine cart that the other men apparently left under their own power. Can you imagine what it would be like to be in their position?
I just pray that they will be rescued, but also that they wouldn't suffer too much if they have died.
Just terrible.
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Holy crap, found ALIVE!
Amazing.
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To clarify, 12 men have been found alive, one has died. It didn't look good at all, but 12 have been found alive against most odds.
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they got garbled info... it's 1 for 13, not 12 for 13...
:cry
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Thats right, 12 Found Dead, when theey found them together behind an improvised barrier where they drilled to look for survivors. I was extremely happy when I went to bed, I woke up to this. How Sad.
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Very sad. What an awful way to enter a new year for the families.
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I wish to express my deepest sympathy to all those affected.
You would think after all the bad information that was reported during "hurrican katrina" it would cause our media to be a little gun shy about reporting information that is not confirmed...
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It looks like the Coal Company knew, the intial rumours about the remaining 12 were untrue but failed to say anything. Unfortunatley the Media hopped on the rumor so quick that the Company had trouble letting everyone know. Hopefully the Survivor will fill us all in as to what actually happened because it seems no one else does.
Trying to avoid an odorless and tasteless gas, fleeing for your life from something you cant smell, see, or taste. Then building and improvised barrier and surviving 40 hours as your friends and family slowly succumbed to the gas.
Of course Hindsight is 20/20, but It seems a direct attempt at trying to save there lives within the first couple hours might have saved 12 instead of just 1. Instead they waited 11 hours just to see if the situation would improve.
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Nefarious,
Sad news indeed and my thoughts are with the families of those miners.
FWIW it's real easy to armchair quarterback the resuce timing sitting away from the scene. Keep in mind that one cave in does not preclude a second during a rushed rescue attempt.There may well have been many more dead if they had rushed the rescue.
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I wonder if the cost of safety was hurting stock prices
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bad news. all but one of the miners have died. the one survivor is in critical condition in a local hospital. he might not make it.
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I've only caught bits and pieces of this story. From what I've heard the company didn't have trouble correcting the media, they knowingly sat on the correct info for several hours. The company president was present at a press conference and knew the men had died, but didn't correct the spokesperson.
This is a double edged sword. Do you wait until family members are individually notified? Or, do you make a public statement and correct the misinformation? Either way you lose.
To the miners families and loved ones.
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Originally posted by Maverick
FWIW it's real easy to armchair quarterback the resuce timing sitting away from the scene. Keep in mind that one cave in does not preclude a second during a rushed rescue attempt.There may well have been many more dead if they had rushed the rescue.
Of course, Thats why I mentioned Hindsight being 20/20. Trust me, Everyone in this area was playing Arm Chair Quarterback. But its different when you know, One County over, less than 30 minutes from where I type this message, People were trapped deep below the earth.
Events like these scar the community forever. There is a lot these scars in West Virginia, Some happened up some forgotten holler, some not so forgotten. The Men, Women, and Children who have worked these mines, not just in WV but all over the United States, are the people that shaped this country and still continue too today.
I'm very upset, and I feel cheated. Its hard to express how I have been feeling, especially since last night. Just gotta keep praying for Randal, and for the families of the lost miners.
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/145_1136428652_raleigh.jpg)
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/145_1136428628_monongah.jpg)
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/145_1136428604_farmington.jpg)
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/145_1136428578_eccles.jpg)
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/145_1136428553_coalboone.jpg)
Mine Disasters in Mcdowell County WV alone.
http://www.mcdowellwv.com/mcdowell-mine-disasters.html
WV Mine Disasters since 1884
http://www.wvminesafety.org/disaster.htm
Mine Fatalities in WV since 1997 (Not all of them occured undergorund)
http://www.wvminesafety.org/Fatal97.htm
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In Memory of...
That fateful day, January 10, 1940, when
Ninety-one miners died in Mine No. 1 at
Bartley, West Virginia. In one of the
most disastrous explosions in the annals
of coal mining.
To their widows
To their children
To their fellow miners -
To all who mourn their loss and
cherish their memory, this poem
is affectionally dedicated.
The day was almost over,
The days shift's work almost done,
Soon the night shift would take over
At Bartley Number One.
For the men who "scoop up" their living
Or work on the "Donkeys" there
A welcome hour was nearing
When they'd breath the open air.
A welcome hour was dawning
When they'd board the old "man-trip"
Check another day for Pond Creek
Check some more good miners "scrip."
Men boasted of the record
Of Bartley Number One;
The good high coal and solid top
Made hard coal-loading fun.
The safest shaft on Dry Fork,
Where the coal is six feet high,
No fatalities for seasons,
"Be careful" was their cry.
Just before their day was over,
Just before their work was done.
They felt the quake of explosion
Deep in Bartley Number One.
They saw the rocks fall before them,
They knew of the terrible damps,
And they saw death in its fury
Through the flicker of their safety lamps.
Comrades in danger and trouble,
They knew 'twas the hour of gloom
It would only be a matter of minutes,
Until they should meet their doom.
When rescue parties found them
They were still and cold and dead,
And from their tired bodies
The last spark of life had fled.
Trapped like rats in a dungeon
They died, their stories untold.
No words can describe their horror,
Down in that cavern of coal.
Ninety-one Bartley miners
Went west to work that day
And not a man of that number
Retuned to the light of day.
And down through the days of the future,
Inscribed on the tables of time,
Will be the sad fate of the miners,
Who died in the Bartley mine.
A word to their widows and children;
"It is appointed to man once to die."
Be faithful, someday you may meet them
In that mansion in the sky.
Could we only have heard their stories,
Could only a man have been spared,
Perhaps our pains would be lessened,
But the death scene alone they shared.
The questions we'd ask would be many,
Did they keep up hopes to the last?
And what lucky man was at the bottom
Of that terrible Bartley blast?
There were many brave men in that number,
Oh, that I, in my weakness could cite
The deeds of each miner among them,
Oh, that I could but picture their plight.
If I could but paint on this paper
The dying hopes they shared,
"Twould emblazon the pages of history,"
But not a man was spared.
The grim reaper walked among them,
Where not even the sun could shine,
Claimed ninety-one souls as ransom
Deep in that Bartley mine.
From the woods of the Carolinas
To the wide Pacific sea
The people were stunned and silenced
As Bartley made history.
Wherever men go down in the ground,
Far from the shining sun,
This watchword should go with them:
"Remember Bartley Number One!"
It's so easy to forget in the coalfields,
Let's resolve to keep forever in mind,
Those friends who died in the darkness
Deep in that Bartley mine.
There were fathers and sons in that number,
And brothers together met their fate,
And though rescue workers labored,
They gained that goal too late.
by A. Edmund Bales