'Miracle' as trapped miners are found alive

Twelve miners caught in an explosion in a US coalmine were found alive today - more than 41 hours after the blast.

Bells at a West Virginia church where relatives had been gathering rang out as family members ran screaming in jubilation.

Relatives yelled: “They’re alive!”

State Governor Joe Manchin said: “They told us they have 12 alive. We have some people that are going to need some medical attention.”

Charlotte Weaver, wife of Jack Weaver, one of the men who had been trapped in the mine, said: “Miracles happen in West Virginia and today we got one.

“I got scared a lot of times, but I couldn’t give up. We have an 11-year-old son, and I couldn’t go home and tell him Daddy wasn’t coming home.”

One miner was found dead yesterday, the mine’s owner International Coal Group (ICG) said.

Neither the company nor the governor’s office immediately confirmed that the men were alive.

There were hugs and tears among the crowd outside the Sago Baptist Church near the mine, about 100 miles north east of Charleston.

A relative at the church said a mine foreman called relatives there, saying the miners had been found.

The miners had been trapped 260ft below the surface of the mine after an explosion early on Monday.

Rescue crews found one body yesterday evening and had said they were holding out hope that the others were still alive.

The unidentified body was found about 700ft from a mine car, and it appeared the employee was working on a beltline, which brings coal out of the mine, said ICG chief executive Ben Hatfield.

Company officials refused to speculate on the cause of the blast, but the governor’s office said it might have been caused by lightning.

Mr Hatfield said rescue crews did not find a cave-in or a roof collapse in the mine. He said the explosion might have occurred in an abandoned section of the mine that was sealed off last month.

Yesterday, the prospects of finding any of the miners alive appeared bleak after holes drilled into the ground yielded deadly levels of carbon monoxide and no signs of life.

Mr Hatfield said the rescue effort was “clearly in the situation where we need a miracle”.

President George Bush said the nation was praying for the men, and he had offered federal help to bring them out alive.

“May God bless those who are trapped below the earth,” he said.

Rescue teams worked their way through the mine on foot for fear machinery might cause volatile gases to explode.

They had drilled narrow holes into the mine, inserted air monitors and found levels of carbon monoxide more than three times the maximum regarded as safe. Carbon monoxide, a byproduct of combustion, can be lethal.

The Kentucky-based International Coal Group owns 13 coal mining complexes in the US. The company was formed in 2004 and acquired Anker Coal Group, the former owner of the Sago Mine, in November.

Federal inspectors cited the mine for 46 alleged violations of federal mine health and safety rules during an 11-week review that ended on December 22, according to records.

The more serious alleged violations involved steps for safeguarding against roof falls, and the mine’s plan to control methane and breathable dust.

The mine received 208 citations from MSHA during 2005, up from 68 citations in 2004.

The state Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training issued 144 notices of violation against the mine in 2005, up from 74 the year before.

Gene Kitts, a senior vice president for ICG, said safety at the mine has improved dramatically since ICG took over and the company is working closely with regulatory agencies to make further improvements.

“We think that we are operating a safe mine,” he said.