11 out of 12 coal miners dead

2006-01-04 14:59

Tallmansville - Family members learned early on Wednesday that 11 of the 12 coal miners who were initially thought to have survived an explosion in a coalmine have died.

Families learnt of the deaths from mine officials more than three hours after Governor Joe Manchin said he had been told 12 of the miners survived the disaster. The sole survivor of the disaster was hospitalised, a doctor said.

International Coal Group Chief Executive Officer Ben Hatfield told the families that only one miner, Randal McCloy, had survived the explosion.

Hatfield told the families gathered at the Sago Baptist Church that "there had been a lack of communication, that what we were told was wrong and that only one survived," said John Groves, whose brother Jerry Groves was one of the trapped miners.

At that point chaos broke out in the church and a fight started.

- AP