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.
rules
In the jubilation of the moment, the rules didn't hold.
location
They could be in another location or they could be barricaded somewhere.
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.
carbon danger greatest impact
The impact of the carbon monoxide is the greatest danger.
clinging families hope progress
Progress has been slow. Families are clinging to every hope of survival.
clinging command people
The families, much like the people working in the command center, are clinging to every hope.
events great manner regret sincerely
We sincerely regret the manner under which events unfolded this morning. The events are a great tragedy.
certainly confident employees explosion final highly joint knowledge pleased reach similar unusual word work
While our independent investigation is certainly not the final word on the explosion, we are confident that the joint federal-state investigation will reach a similar conclusion. We are pleased that we can get our Sago employees back to work with the knowledge that the explosion was an unpredictable and highly unusual accident.
develop effort future help identify intend leader prevent safety
We intend to be a leader in the effort to identify and develop safety technologies that will help to prevent future tragedies.
army conduct fixed hard people safe
We have an army of people working as hard as they can to get the ventilation fixed so it is safe to go in and conduct the investigation.
blazing miles
We can't see 2 miles underground. We didn't know if there was a blazing fire.
We had no idea what they were being told.
believe determined fewer forward hard industry less men move pace people quicker talented
We determined we could move forward at a quicker pace by rehabilitating fewer entries and doing less construction on the way in. I believe we have the smartest, most talented people in the industry working as hard as they can to get the men out safely.