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CNN Live Today

12 Miners Confirmed Dead in West Virginia

Aired January 04, 2006 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(NEWSBREAK)
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And once again, standing by for a news conference from Ben Hatfield, the CEO of the company that owns the coal mine where the tragedy has taken place. The answers people are looking for about what took place and why the miscommunication -- why were people told that 12 of the miners were alive when, in fact, they were dead? That's ahead. We'll go live to West Virginia as that news conference begins. Right now, a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Once again, we are standing by. We expect a news conference to begin any minute out of Tallmansville, West Virginia. The CEO of the company, Ben Hatfield, that owns the mine where this tragedy has taken place, is expected to step up to the microphone. What kind of answers he has for reporters and family members, we will be live to see.

In West Virginia, the mine company officials do say that it was a miscommunication to blame for this morning's cruel turn of events. Families were first told that 11 of the 12 remaining trapped miners were alive, but those celebrations were crushed a few hours later when mine officials announced only one survived. Official concede they knew of a grim turnaround three hours earlier, but were awaiting details before telling the families.

The sole survivor of the Sago mine explosion. 27-year-old Randal McCloy, Jr. Earlier this morning, doctors updated his condition. They say he is suffering from severe dehydration and a collapsed lung after the 41 hour ordeal.

And now let's go live to the mine, the scene of so much hope last night. It's now where 12 people lost their lives, buried in the earth.

CNN's Adaora Udoji is there and she joins us now with the latest. Adaora, hello.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Amid the grief, the utter devastation and the just utter disbelief, there are so many questions this morning here in West Virginia. As you noted, there was this miscommunication. That's how the CEO of the International Coal Group, which is the company that owns this Sago mine, that's how he described what happened last night. Earlier this morning, he said, essentially, rescue workers down in the mine shaft were communicating with the command center. And the people in the command center walked away with the understanding that 12 of the 13 miners had survived. That was then relayed to family and friends, who were gathered at the Baptist church not far from the mine. It spread like wildfire. There was a tremendous amount celebration and joy and happiness.

The company, though, Ben Hatfield, that CEO, said that the company never officially announced that 12 of the 13 miners had survived. But some of the family members that CNN spoke to said that they personally spoke to the CEO, who told them that there were those 12 survivors and they should be expecting to reunite with them. This was sometime around midnight. And of course, as we know now, it was three hours later that the CEO went back to the families and told them that 12 miners had perished at that accident.

And now we are just looking for all sorts of answers this morning. One, why it took them so long to correct the families' understanding that there were survivors. What exactly is happening? What's happening now with the bodies of those miners? We were told earlier this morning that the intention was to collect all of the bodies and take them out at once, it's not clear if that's happened at this point this morning -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Adaora Udoji, live in West Virginia. Thank you. And Adaora, I'm sure you're waiting, as well, for the news conference to begin there with Ben Hatfield, the CEO of the company that owns the mine where this all took place.

The governor of West Virginia was inside the Sago Baptist Church when the first word came in of the miners being alive. And like the family members there, he was all caught up in the initial jubilation, but brought down when that report proved false.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOE MANCHIN, WEST VIRGINIA: I wanted to make sure these families had accurate information as quickly as we did before the news media, and that's what was transferring for two days. And then for this to happen, and just people, they've worked so hard, they tried so hard. They've risked their lives and we're just so sorry. It's just a gut-wrenching thing that I was hoping I'd never go through again in my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Governor Manchin says it's the wrong time to place blame. He knows about this kind of tragedy. His uncle died in a mine accident in 1968.

The White House is offering its thoughts and prayers to the West Virginia community that is grappling with the mine tragedy. The White House spokesman says that President Bush will discuss the loss in the next hour.

Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us with more on that. Suzanne, hello.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Daryn.

President Bush is now at the Pentagon. He's getting briefings from his top military officials on the state of the war in Iraq, of course, Afghanistan as well. But we are told to expect from the president in about an hour or so, the top of his remarks, he will offer condolences. This tragic loss, the press secretary earlier this morning saying that our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and the entire community there in West Virginia. Our prayers are with the surviving miner who was rescued and we express our deepest appreciation for the courageous and compassionate efforts of the rescue team who put their lives on the line.

Now yesterday, President Bush was following the story. He was getting regular updates, we are told. He reached out to the governor of West Virginia, making a phone call offering federal resources in the rescue effort, that through the Mine Safety and Health Administration through the Department of Labor. We have heard from those officials today who say now they are launching a full investigation into the cause of the accident.

But Daryn, perhaps even more pointedly, they're also going to be doing an investigation on how they relayed that information about the condition of those miners, the tragedy that really was on top of that loss, that misinformation that those families got -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Suzanne Malveaux at White House. Suzanne, thank you.

Once again, standing by for the news conference to begin. You'll see it live here on CNN. We also expect to hear from at least one friend of one of the miners that perished. That's just ahead.

Right now, a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And that is the scene right now in West Virginia. Standing by once again for this news conference with Ben Hatfield. He's the CEO of the company that owns the Sago mine. A lot families and reporters looking for answers today. We will go there live as soon as that begins there.

Speaking of the families of the miners, what an impossible night. First they were told that all but one miner was still alive, then three hours later get word that actually only one had survived.

A friend of the miners who was in the church at the time of both announcements talked to AMERICAN MORNING's Miles O'Brien and had this unbelievable description of what took place.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN CASTO, FRIEND OF MINERS: Well, me and my brother was in the community building, we call it, hooked onto the church. And we was waiting for them to come over and give us a briefing on what was going on because they come over every so often. And when we was waiting, we just heard a commotion, people hollering and shouting and saying, "They're alive! They're alive!"

And so I went around the building. And when I got around the building, a lot of people was done and out of the church. And then I couldn't understand what was going on. But I began to ask questions, but this is just hearsay. And they said the governor was ready to give a speech and somebody came through the back door, which I -- they didn't know who it was. I don't know who it was.

And they said that there was a miracle. They are miracles. There are 12 people alive in the mines and one dead.

M. O'BRIEN: Who was that person? No one knows?

CASTO: I don't know, but if he's watching right now, I would love for him to let us know that he done this thing. And I don't understand why he done it. No one understands.

M. O'BRIEN: How do you feel about having to go through that and wait upwards of three hours to get the real story? What emotion does that leave you with?

CASTO: Well, it was a terrible thing for the loved ones because they understood that there was 12 of them alive under there and they was pretty sure they knew which one was dead. And we rejoiced for the ones that was alive. And we mourned for the one that was lost, supposedly.

And we was told that the ambulance would go over and pick them up and they would bring them over and they would feed them and they would bring them to the hallway and down the hallway into the church and the immediate family would talk to them; they would rejoice with them when they got there. And then the friends could rejoice.

And we waited and waited and it must have been three-and-a-half hours. But the loved ones and the family was out on the porch wrapped in blankets awaiting for their fathers or their brothers to come up and just give them a hug, because that's what we was told, they was -- they was alive.

And when we began to see the black vehicles come up through there and the state police -- and they all come in there, we still thought they was alive. We still was a looking for them to come through the door, just like we was told.

But then when they come up there -- names is not good for me, because I can't remember a name. Names don't matter to me, really, because I believe that we're all brothers. But there was somebody come up there, I think it was a mine official, and said well, I'm sorry of the delay, because he was supposed to have been there earlier, I think 11:00, maybe. But this was like 2:30 or whatever it was. It doesn't really matter, really, to me.

But he come up there and said he was sorry for the delay and he said I've told you the truth clear through. I told you that I was going to tell you the truth and I'm here to tell you the truth now. And he said that there was one survivor.

And I believe that everybody was stunned because they didn't really understand what he was saying. Some people didn't really know what he said. But there was a couple of people that understood what he said, and they began to shout and curse and -- but just a few minutes before that they was praising God and then they was cursing because they thought they lost a loved one. Well, they knew they did at the time.

But, anyway, they got them settled down. And another one asked, said what are you saying? And this guy said, there are 12 dead and one alive. And you know it hit them people's hearts so hard. They didn't know what to do, didn't know what to do at all. But, you know, they began to holler and curse. And our pastor, we stay, got them settled down and he said look toward God in this tragedy. And one guy, I don't believe in cussing, but one guy said what in the hell has God done for us?

But just a few minutes before that, we was praising God because they believed they was alive. But the one that had loved ones that they knew was dead was over in the other room. And, you know, we praise when we know that 12 was alive and we mourn when the one was gone.

And the pastor asked the one -- the people to come up and pray for the one that was gone and you know there was three people came up to that altar and prayed. Because I notice things like that. And they was tears flowing down their eyes and I began to pray with them. There was tears flowing down my eyes. I couldn't understand why the other 400 or 500 was just sitting back there talking about the ones that was alive. I couldn't understand that.

You know, I'm not (INAUDIBLE) these people under that hill over there, but each and every one of them is a brother to me. Each and every one of them. Because you're my brother and you're my brother, the way I look at it, because I love Christ. And we're going to pray for each and every one of these people. We're going to pray that this community believes today in peace and always be in peace in the town of Sago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: John Casto speaking with our Miles O'Brien earlier today on AMERICAN MORNING. And just a reminder, you can now watch CNN's AMERICAN MORNING starting at 6:00 a.m. Eastern every weekday, unless there's breaking news. I think they got started at 4:00 a.m. today to bring you the breaking news. And course they're our warm-up act. Here at "CNN LIVE TODAY," you join us at 10:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

We're standing by for that news conference to begin in West Virginia, the CEO of the company that owns the mine facing reporters and family members. We will see that live right here on CNN.

Right now, a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Getting back to this nightmare once again that the family members of these miners lived out overnight. First told that many of the miners were alive, then later told only one survived. It led to a lot of chaos, confusion, and ultimately despair in West Virginia.

Our Randi Kaye was there as this all played out and she joins us now on the phone. Randi, hello.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

We were there. We were just outside the church with the family members after they'd gotten the news from that still yet unidentified person that 12 of the miners had survived. And Daryn, it was such a scene of jubilation. There were cheers, the church bells were ringing. Just screams of joy.

We interviewed half a dozen of the family members and they were all telling us they couldn't believe the news. They were already talking about what they were going to say to their loved ones. They had even been told, apparently, and they were telling us, several of them did, that their -- the surviving miners were expected to arrive at the Sago Baptist Church, where we had been camped out with the families for a couple of days now.

And then just a few hours later, just that one ambulance, the one lone ambulance, Daryn, had come down from the face of the coal mine. And then it had been a very long time before there was any sign of any other activity. And you could see, Daryn, the mood started to change. In fact, I even said to my producer, something's not right.

Because you could see the EMS workers were coming down. They were hugging each other, they appeared emotional. I tried to speak with one of the firemen who had been up there and he seemed very angry and somewhat distraught, and basically, you know, just walked right by us.

But it was really quite a scene to see the change. And then when the news came and the governor and the mining company officials came to the church and announced it, that is when the chaos really broke out. There was such anger. I ran up to the church, in fact, and found the mother-in-law of Randal McCloy, the only surviving member of this incident. And even she was distraught.

It has just been such a terrible scene. So much hope for these people. And we saw it -- and just to have them planning the hugs and celebration with their loved ones and then to have this happen. And to see it play out was something -- Daryn.

KAGAN: What about the gap in time, the amount of time that it took for the information to be corrected?

KAYE: That is something that I think they're certainly -- already are plenty of questions about it today. But certainly, those questions will continue. I mean, they knew, apparently, that there had been miscommunication with these workers, these rescue crews, who 13,000 feet deep into the mine. And they let these families hang on this good information, this good news, which they thought was apparently good news, let them hang on it for about three hours.

And that, I think, is so much of where the anger comes from. The families yelling they're liars, they're liars, referring to the mining company officials, yelling at them, calling them hypocrites. Wanting to get the news out around the world when they were talking to us live on the air right after it happened.

There was just so much -- so much anger and so much hurt. I don't think that at that point -- it was about 3:30 in the morning at that point, Eastern time -- they really could fully grasp. A lot of their relatives, they had called and told them the good news, Daryn, and those people ended up going to bed, only to wake up this morning and find out that their relatives weren't alive.

KAGAN: Randi Kaye in western West Virginia. Randi, thank you.

Well, obviously, there's going to be a lot of questions for Ben Hatfield, the CEO of the mining company. We've been standing by for a news conference to begin from there in West Virginia. We were expecting it about 25 minutes ago. We will stand by and when it happens, you'll see it live right here on CNN. As well as much more news at the top of the hour. We're back in a moment.

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