Mine safety cuts hindered West Virginia rescue

A detailed note left by 61-year-old miner Jim Bennett shows that he was alive at least 10 hours after the explosion. Bennett’s daughter, Ann Merideth, told the Associated Press her father left a note with several entries, starting at 11:40 a.m. on Monday and the last one at 4:25 that afternoon. The first rescue crew did not enter the mine until more than 11 hours after the explosion, and the first air hole to reach the area the miners were believed to be in was punched not through for nearly 24 hours.

“I’m not sure how many miners [were] able to live as long as my father had, which I’m sure most of them did, and it really bothers me because it took them so long,” Bennett’s daughter told the AP.

There is no mine rescue team at the Sago mine, nor did the company have the type of breathing equipment on site that would be needed to reenter the mine after an explosion consumed most of the available oxygen. Several miners who escaped after the blast attempted to rescue their fellow miners but were turned back by the smoke and poisonous carbon monoxide.

The closest federal rescue team is in Morgantown, about 70 miles away, and according to a New York Times article, they “might have been slowed by holiday vacations” and “had lost members to attrition” due to budget cuts. This delayed the rescue effort by several hours. Federal regulations do not require that mines have rescue teams provided that they can get a nearby rescue team on site within two hours.

According to the Times, one of the first rescue teams to arrive was from the Consul Energy mine near Fairmont, about 50 mines away. Jeff Bienkoski, a 54-year-old member of that team, told the Times “he got the call at about 10 a.m.”—three and a half hours after the explosion. By the time he gathered up his equipment and traveled to the Sago Mine, it was 12:30 p.m.—six hours after the explosion.

Several other teams arrived, but all were prevented from entering the mine by company officials who said it was unsafe to enter. As a result, the first rescue teams did not enter the mine until around 6 p.m., almost 12 hours after the explosion took place.

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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jan2006/mine-j09.shtml