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The Situation Room
Miners in West Virginia Trapped More Than a Mile Underground; Water Rescue in Long Beach, California
Aired January 02, 2006 - 16:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's 5:00 p.m. in Washington, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where news and information from around the world arrive at one place at the same time.
Happening now, it's 5:00 p.m. in West Virginia, but rescue crews do not know if time is on their side. Right now they're trying to save at least 13 minors trapped underground after an explosion in a coal mine. Officials say crews are already on the scene but more rescue teams are on the way, trying to vent the ground to let potentially dangerous gases out and crucial air in. Officials do not know exactly where the miners are or even if they are still alive.
I'm Tom Foreman. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
How much time, how much air, how much danger they are in, right now in West Virginia there are no exact answers to those questions as rescue crews desperately try to save at least 12. The coal company says 13 miners trapped over a mile underground. They've been there nine hours after an explosion in the mine.
Our correspondent Brian Todd is in West Virginia. He joins us now on the phone with the latest.
Brian, what do you know?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tom, we're just a few miles away from the site. We're told that the rescue team that is in the mine at this time has made no contact with the miners.
The rescue team entered at some point between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. We are told that they do have -- the rescue team has oxygen to navigate its way around the mine. They have had no contact with the miners.
The first distress call, we are told, came about 7:35 a.m. this morning, so several hours before they were able to get a team into the mine. And we are told that that is because they were clearing out some methane gas from the mine that was present in that -- in that mine.
We are also told that there is some other gas that is being emitted from there, and they're dealing with that situation. Everything is going to have to be done by hand until they're able to get equipment in, and the gas is playing a part in that situation.
We know that six miners got out of the mine this morning, four of them went back into the -- at least the mouth of the mine to verify that there was a debris wall there, and then came out and they all reported the incident. As we said, the first distress call came at about 7:35 a.m.
The families of some of the miners trapped are being gathered at a local Baptist church. And that is what we can tell you.
They have had no contact with the trapped miners. The rescue team has been in there for the better part of two hours now. And we hope to hear more soon.
FOREMAN: Thank you very much.
Brian Todd on the scene in West Virginia.
Steve Milligan is deputy director of West Virginia's Office of Emergency Management. He joins us now with a little more news on this also.
Steve, let me ask you one quick question to begin with. We keep hearing about this gap between the time of the explosion, about 6:30, and the first big call for help at 7:30. Why did it take so long?
STEVEN MILLIGAN, OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, UPSHUR COUNTY: First of all, I'm with the Office of Emergency Management of Upshur County, not with the whole state of West Virginia.
FOREMAN: My apologies, Steve, yes.
MILLIGAN: That's OK. I would only assume that the miners would have had to have walked out approximately a mile from where the explosion was and where the debris pile was to get to the mine portal to make a call to help.
FOREMAN: And are there not routinely communications lines set up in there that would have survived on the outside part of the explosion, if you will, or is that something that normally doesn't work?
MILLIGAN: You know, I really don't know about that. I've never really been in a mine before, so I really couldn't answer that question. But apparently not if they had to walk out to call for help.
FOREMAN: What is happening right now in terms of the teams that are assembling there, Steve, and what you're doing to support them?
MILLIGAN: It's my understanding that the teams have entered the mine. They had to wait for a backup team by regulation.
American Red Cross and some mental health people are at the scene, at the church with the families. The Upshur emergency management is there, the sheriff's department, state police and fire departments are on scene outside. But there's nothing that they can do really until the people are brought out of the mine. Our local firefighters and such are not allowed to go into a mine. FOREMAN: One other question, Steve. This particular area where this happened, is this an area where it's easy for the teams to get in and out, to get medical personnel to the entrance of the mine, or is this one of the things you have to deal with, country roads and a lot of traffic (ph)?
MILLIGAN: There's country roads. As a matter of fact, it's sort of like a one-and-a-half-lane road. And certainly when all the news media gets down there it's going to be hard to get in and out.
But there is a helicopter pad there, depending on weather. We have excellent service with Life Flight (ph) from Charleston, Huntington and Morgantown. So, if need be, helicopters can be flown in. But it's only about 10 miles to the hospital, so it shouldn't be too bad.
FOREMAN: And that's 10 miles by ground or 10 miles by helicopter?
MILLIGAN: By ground from the mine to the hospital.
FOREMAN: Very good. Steve Milligan...
MILLIGAN: The helicopters about 20 -- the helicopters should be there in about 20 minutes if they aren't tied up.
FOREMAN: Very good. And I assume that helicopters are standing by to some degree for that purpose?
MILLIGAN: Yes, they've been alerted.
FOREMAN: Steve Milligan, very good.
MILLIGAN: But until they have information, there's no sense having them tied up on ground.
FOREMAN: Certainly.
Steve Milligan, deputy director, Office of Emergency Management for Upshur County. Thanks for joining us with that information.
We've had a lot of talk about what caused this explosion. There's been talk about gas, there's been talk about possible coal dust. Nobody seems to have any answers. But what we do know is there was a big storm at the time.
Let's bring in CNN Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. She's standing by at the CNN weather service -- center.
(WEATHER REPORT)
FOREMAN: We want to go back to Bruce Dial, who is a mine safety expert.
Bruce, I'm interested in this concept here. Is it possible that lightning on top of the ground can cause an explosion within a mine? BRUCE DIAL, MINE EXPERT: Well, naturally, lightning can cause an explosion, but there are a lot of safeguards in place in the electrical system and if they have track or railroad going to the mine. They have the safeguards in place that would stop lightning from going all the way into the mine.
FOREMAN: So this is not an unheard of thing. Have you ever heard of it happening before this way?
DIAL: Well, it's one of the precautions that when you set up a mine, you take precautions and try to stop lightning. I can't recall anything right off the top of my mind where lightning has caused an underground explosion.
FOREMAN: One more thing I want to ask about, because I'm very puzzled by this. We're hearing that this gas that they're dealing with, they're venting off, is not methane, which they feared at one point might be the issue. Somebody said, "Is it natural gas?" and they said no, which would either mean that they mean it's some kind of man-made gas or, in a colloquial sense, they were saying natural gas, meaning natural gas like we use in our homes.
What other gases are at issue here?
DIAL: The only other gas that I could think of they would be talking about would be carbon monoxide, and that's caused from the burning -- of anything burning in there. It would be like the carbon monoxide that your car engine would put out the tail pipe.
FOREMAN: All right. Well, thank you very much. Bruce Dial, we'll be checking back with you for some information on this.
An expert in mining accidents.
WSAZ reporter Laura Bree Austin filed this report a short time ago. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAURA BREE AUSTIN, REPORTER, WSAZ: This isn't a lot of information, and that's what families here are desperate for. They are certainly holding out hope at this point, but since 6:30 this morning they have been waiting on any news.
There is no communication, we're told. The International Coal Company did have a press conference, but they were able to share very little, including what caused this explosion.
Now, we actually want to introduce you to one of the families who is waiting to hear about their brother and uncle.
Terry Helms (ph), if you could just tell us what you're thinking at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just doing a lot of praying and trying to think positive and hope that they're all OK. AUSTIN: This is the day after New Year's, certainly not how you guys wanted to start this year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right. And it's getting dark out.
AUSTIN: Are you hopeful at this point?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, in a way I am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trying to be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trying to be, yes.
AUSTIN: So obviously at this point all you can do is be together as a family. Is that supportive? And what would you want him to know?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That all of his family is here, we're all together, and we're praying for him. And we're here for him. We're waiting for him to come out.
AUSTIN: And certainly that would be the expectations of all of these families. Hundreds of people here waiting. It doesn't matter how long it takes. In fact, no news might be good news, they start to tell themselves.
And so there are people waiting just about a half a mile up at the church. The coal mine is about a half a mile from here. We're sort of at a very central location, and all we can do with everyone else is wait for some hopefully good news to come.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: That's all they're to do now. Laura Bree Austin reporting from the scene. We'll have much more on this mining disaster and all the other news.
Stick with us, please, here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: We've made an adjustment to this graphic to give you a better sense of what we're talking about in this mining disaster. The Sago mine is a single shaft that people actually walk into. So when we talk about 5,800 feet from the entrance of the mine to the back of the mine, to where this explosion was -- or not the back of the mine, but where the explosion was, we're not talking about straight down. We're talking about something that's at an angle that people can walk on.
We do not know yet what the difference is between the explosion and the surface area, so that if they want to drill in, how far that would be. One of the reasons we don't know this is because they still don't know precisely where these people are in the mine.
These 13 miners have had no communication with them. They're studying mine maps. And if history tells us anything, they're looking at satellite coordinates to figure out exactly where they might be.
And this can sometimes lead to happy endings. Not long ago, in July of 2002, another group of miners was trapped underground as rescuers raced against time and rising water in Pennsylvania.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN (voice over): For three days, families and friends of nine miners in Pennsylvania waited, prayed and watched as rescuers tried to pull their men from the earth. The miners were trapped when a drill accidentally broke through to a flooded mineshaft and an underwater river suddenly filled their escape route.
The men were caught on a smile pile of coal in a chamber only four feet tall and 12 feet wide. And there they faced a wide array of threats.
The frigid water all around super-cooled the air, bringing the danger of hypothermia. Running out of air or seepage of poisonous underground gases were constant fears. The miners had almost no food and there was no guarantee the water would not eventually overtake their tiny island.
Above ground, rescuers faced their own challenges. Since they had no communication with the trapped men, could not even be sure if they were alive, rescuers had to use mining maps and global positioning satellite systems to calculate where the survivors might be. They knew as they prepared to drill that missing the target could at best cost priceless hours, and at worse a collapse or more flooding.
In this case, the rescuers' calculations were accurate. After cutting a ventilation shaft through so they could pump fresh warm air to the trapped miners, they quickly followed with a wider rescue shaft and all nine men were raised to safety.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: This is an extraordinary feat to reach down and find people in places like this, to establish communication with them, and then to get to them in time to save them. Because the fact is, an explosion through a mine, dust in the mine, gases in the mine, hypothermia, all of these things can create a very tenuous medical situation.
Lisa Turner is with St. Joseph's Hospital in Buckhannon, West Virginia, near this mine. She's joining us by phone to talk to us a little bit about what they're preparing for there -- Lisa.
LISA TURNER, ST. JOSEPH'S HOSPITAL: Yes, basically here at St. Joseph's Hospital, our emergency room personnel have been on standby all day. We had a high alert issued this morning which brought in extra ER personnel, specially-trained nurses and doctors.
FOREMAN: What is it that you're most prepared for at a time like this? TURNER: Well, we would be prepared for a variety of things. Our ER is equipped to handle most emergencies. If it was more traumatic than we could handle, they would be triaged, stabilized and sent on to another facility. But you would typically looking at smoke inhalation, coal dust particles and possibly burns.
FOREMAN: How -- when you look at these situations, you're talking about a very broad range of things, potential poisonous gas, potential hypothermia where they are. I would guess that you could only have your teams as prepared as they can be and then be ready to jump on whatever the need is at that time.
TURNER: That's correct. And like I said, all of our people are on standby, they'll be at the hospital at a moment's notice if the EMS calls and they are bringing patients in.
FOREMAN: Would these people most likely be brought by car? I understand that this is about -- car or ambulance, I understand it's about 10 miles by road away, a little quicker by helicopter. What would be the most likely way that they would arrive at your hospital?
TURNER: Like you said, we're only about 10 minutes from the mine itself. So I would anticipate they would be arriving by ambulance.
FOREMAN: Probably just as fast to load them into vehicles and move them, as to make arrangements for a helicopter, which can only carry a couple of people anyway.
TURNER: That's correct.
FOREMAN: All right. Lisa Turner, spokeswoman for St. Joseph's Hospital, I hope that your people there do not get terribly busy. I hope these folks are OK and come out OK.
Thanks for your time.
TURNER: Thank you.
FOREMAN: Now it's time now for "The Cafferty File." Our Jack Cafferty is in New York, back from being off for a few days.
On a rather difficult day, but glad to have you back, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Tom, very much.
We don't know a lot about what's going on in that West Virginia mine, what caused the miners to become trapped or the condition of the people there. We do know that mining can be a dangerous job.
According to statistics compiled by an outfit called the Mine Safety and Health Administration, in 2003 55 miners died in mining accidents. The danger of mine work exaggerated by the fact that we often don't know the outcome for an extended period of time after the miners become trapped.
Accidents which occur in other kinds of work tend to resolve themselves fairly quickly one way or the other. But with trapped miners, it's the wait. And the wait is agonizing.
Here's the question: What's the most dangerous line of work? You can e-mail us your thoughts at CaffertyFile@CNN.com -- Tom.
FOREMAN: Excellent thoughts, Jack. Thanks so much. We'll look forward to your e-mails.
Much more news coming your way, including tornadoes sweeping over the Southeast.
Stick with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: Seventy thousand people expected at the Peach Bowl in Georgia tonight, and the -- Sugar Bowl, excuse me. I'm getting my bowls mixed up here.
Jacki Jeras is standing by. They're in for a bit of a shock from the weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
FOREMAN: All that going right by the big Atlanta airport. If you're flying in that region, going to be a busy evening. And Jacki Schechner has more online about all of this.
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Just if you want to build a little bit at home on what Jacqui was talking about, you can go on to the National Weather Service. There's a radar from the Atlanta, Georgia, area, and you can see right here where those severe areas are.
Also, clicking over to the Storm Prediction Center from the same -- from the same service, from the National Weather Service, these are the parallelograms that she was showing you. Now, if you go in and you click on these things, it will give you the exact areas we're talking about to get a closer look if your area is focused on.
And again, she mentioned those were in effect, those watches in effect until 10:00 p.m. So you'll want to go online, take a look and see if that's your particular area -- Tom.
FOREMAN: Thank you so much, Jacki.
We have a developing story out in Long Beach, California. Mary Snow has the latest on that -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tom, as you know, severe weather continues to soak southern California, and in Long Beach, California, our affiliate KCAL reporting that rescue workers are trying to reach, it is believed, three people trapped in a car. It appears that the car perhaps lost control on an offramp going over this bridge, and this rescue effort continuing to go to -- to continue. And we're waiting word, official word from either the police or fire department. Parts of southern California today expecting up to eight inches of rain. And at this point, we don't know exactly how many people are in the car trapped in that murky water. You can hear the helicopter reporters from our affiliate KCAL at this developing story -- Tom.
FOREMAN: That's just a shame, Mary. Thank you so much for that news. We'll keep an eye on that.
We're also keeping an eye on the mining disaster in West Virginia, bringing you all the latest on that. It's been a very difficult day there for families and rescuers, a hard way to start off the new year. They're hoping for the best and preparing for whatever comes.
Stick with us here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: Think about what you've done for the past 11hours. That is how long 13 miners have been trapped in a mine in West Virginia.
We just got a photograph in I want you to take a look at. This is of the Sago mine entrance. It was taken in 2002.
This is sent to us by Dr. Jeffery Simmons (ph), a professor at West Virginia Wesleyan College.
So when we talk about the entrance to the mine, this is what we're talking about, fairly large, as you can see. And this is where people would walk into the mine to begin work.
If we look at the graphic earlier, what we saw as well, to give you an idea of what we're talking about in the area, workers were going in at about 6:30 this morning. In fact, were deep within the mine when this explosion occurred.
The angle from this, as you can see, is flat. And people have been talking about this as a mine which you walk into. You don't ride elevators, as you often see in movies or other video of deep mines that you go into.
You would walk in through one of these entrances. They were deep within this mine at 6:30 this morning when the explosion occurred.
Some of them, about a half-dozen, were able to run out. Thirteen others, according to mine company officials, are trapped inside.
There's no communication with them. We do not know if they have survived this explosion or not or what their situation is now. We do know that there are issues of gas collecting in this mine or being vented off of this mine at this point.
We're bringing in Bruce Dial, an expert on mine safety, to talk a little bit more about this. Eleven hours into this, Bruce, coming up right on the second, it's 11 hours that they have been inside this mine. What does this tell you? Are there time marks that you look for as a mine safety expert, where you say, chances of survival are higher or lower, or is every case a new one?
BRUCE DIAL, COAL MINING SAFETY EXPERT: Well, as we saw in Pennsylvania, you never give up hope, until you actually find the bodies or the people alive.
If they could get to a place where there is oxygen, barricade their selves, they can ration, food and water. They can turn -- take turns turning their lights off and on. They could survive quite a bit of time in there.
FOREMAN: How does one barricade oneself inside of a mine, especially in something as easily shifted about as gas?
DIAL: Well, there's many materials in the mine where they use to control the ventilation. They will actually build, like, cinder block walls or concrete block walls to direct the air throughout the mine.
A group of men could back up against one of the headings that's -- that's kind of like a three -- three-sided room, and then take these materials and build a barricade in front of them, and seal it with some of the materials, brattice cloth, other materials they would have down there with them.
FOREMAN: Is there, in your experience, time to do something like this? Because, when I think about gas moving through an area, I think, well, it would fill the room almost instantly. You would have so little time in which to work.
DIAL: Yes, it -- the gas would inundate the areas.
But, remember, they do have these self-rescuers. I understand they have two-hour self-rescuers, where it would give them sufficient time to build a barricade and -- and try to -- or try to get to an area that has sufficient ventilation, that kind of thing.
FOREMAN: All right, I want you to stand by a little more, Bruce, while we go back to Zoe Ludski, who is with radio station WDNE. She's at the scene, and she's been bringing us updates on all of this.
Zoe, what's going on now?
ZOE LUDSKI, WDNE RADIO REPORTER: Hi there.
Right now, we're waiting for a press conference. It was supposed to happen at 5:00. However, they're apparently waiting on a fax come through. No details on who that fax is from -- also, word that Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito and Governor Manchin are flying back from Atlanta right now, scheduled to land in Clarksburg.
I should be hearing shortly when they will arrive. FOREMAN: Zoe, do you have sense that there's a lot of activity on the ground right now, or is this the kind of thing where they have to get a team in place, and then they wait until they get the equipment in place, and there's a lot of waiting going on?
LUDSKI: There's a lot of waiting going on, a lot of waiting going on, and growing concern.
FOREMAN: Growing concern from the families, obviously, as each hour passes, but, also, you mentioned some of the concern from the family about why it took so long to get teams to the mine, rescue teams, to begin with.
(CROSSTALK)
FOREMAN: Is there any answer on that yet?
LUDSKI: There is no answer.
In fact, the -- Roger Nicholson and his crew from the International Coal Group have just arrived and will be starting the press conference. And I will certainly ask those questions -- again, concern that the explosion occurred at 6:30, why nobody heard about it until quite a bit later, maybe 8:00. And, then, of course, when I arrived here at 1:00, still only one rescue crew on...
FOREMAN: Excuse me, Zoe. Did I understand you correctly? When you arrived at 1:00, there was still one rescue crew there, although the accident would have then happened, what are we talking about, six, almost seven hours earlier?
Zoe -- I'm afraid we lost Zoe Ludski, who was giving us some very interesting information there.
I would like to go very briefly back to Bruce Dial, if we could.
Because, Bruce, one of that is puzzling me about this is, I would think, in something as potentially hazardous as mine work, that there would be some sort of emergency crews on very quick standby all the time. Is that not the case?
DIAL: Yes. They are required by law to have a mine rescue team stand by. They don't have to be at the mine site. But they have to be able to be at the mine within so many minutes.
But, like you heard earlier, one mine rescue team usually don't go underground unless there is another team outside. So, that could -- that team could be brought from other mines, could be the state- organized team, things like that. So, sometimes, it does take a little time to get other teams there.
FOREMAN: Why does the second team not go in until the -- why does one team not go in until a second team is on site?
LUDSKI: Well, you're -- you're going into an area that is -- that is unknown. There could be fires. There could be bad roof. There could be high methane count -- gas counts, where it could be more explosions.
So, it's -- when a team goes in, they're very methodical. They have rules that they go by. They have to check everything as they go in to make sure there's no hazard to the team themselves.
FOREMAN: Bruce Dial, thank you so much. We will be standing with more information as we continue.
Once again, take a look at the clock. Eleven hours and five minutes, that's how long these 13 men have been underground there in West Virginia. There's been no communication with them. We certainly hope they have survived. But rescuers are still trying to reach the spot where they might be to find out what has happened and if these folks can be rescued.
We have much, much more ahead right here in THE SITUATION ROOM -- many more news stories that we're keeping up with. Please, stick with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: That's the count now, 11 hours, eight minutes, and 20 seconds since the explosion in that mine in West Virginia. That's from the explosion time, we believe, at least. There have been conflicting accounts. Earlier, it was about 8:00. Now we know it was at least 6:30, may have been earlier than that, the explosion occurred.
But, nonetheless, that's how long it has been, 11 hours, at least, that 13 men have been trapped underneath the ground there -- no word from them -- no sense if they have survived or not.
Brian Todd is now on the scene with more.
Brian, what's happening now?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tom, we can tell you that the rescue team, as far as we are told as this point, has had no contact with the miners.
They have been in there now for about two hours and 40 minutes, at least, and possibly longer than that. So, they may be getting ready to come out and rotate with another crew at this point.
We know that there are at least 12 miners, possibly 13, inside the mine right now. There's some question about the experience of these miners. One of them, we know has about 35 years experience. The training for the others, we're not sure of.
And that is a concern. It did take quite a few hours for the -- first rescue team to get inside the mine, because of the issue of methane gas that was present in there. There may be, also, another type of gas that's being emitted from the mine. And that, we're not clear on. We're told that it's not methane and it's not natural gas. So, that could be another issue that is hampering rescue teams. There is a debris wall that at least that is one -- that is at least one of the obstacles that they have had to -- to clear through to get in there in the first place.
In the meantime, we're told families of the -- of the miners are gathered here in the town of Buckhannon, West Virginia, at a local church, awaiting word of the latest news of their loved ones. We're hoping to get word very -- very soon. There was going to be a news conference a short time ago.
They have postponed that. So, we're just waiting for word now -- so, far no contact with these miners trapped inside.
FOREMAN: Thank you very much, Brian Todd. We will expect more as the -- the day goes on here, as people condition to watch that situation.
We want to a look a little bit at the record of this mine and the company that operates it.
We are going to turn to Abbi Tatton now with more on that -- Abbi.
ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Tom, this is the U.S. Department of Labor site, the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
There, you can look at accidents, citations, violations at mines all around the country. And we have searched on Sago mine here. I counted 15 inspections that have taken place in 2005. They're listed and detailed heavily on this site -- many of these inspection not resulting in any citations.
But two of the most recent regular safety and health inspections did. Forty-six citations, the most recent, that one that just finished on the 22nd of December of 2005 . The one before that that went July through September resulted in some 70 citations.
Now, looking into them, the codes that have been cited are listed on the site. Some of them include the installation of fire- extinguishing equipment. Also, interestingly, one citation I found was on the installation of methane monitors there at the Sago mine.
Also, on this site, you can find the mine rescue teams that are placed around the country in the areas where the mines are. We searched around Sago mine within 50 miles, seven different teams located there. One of them, we know, has already gone out, the Kingwood teams, consisting of 40 men at that location -- Tom.
FOREMAN: Thank so much, Abbi Tatton.
We will be bringing you more on this story as it develops, as the light is fading here on the East Coast, pretty much gone right here in Washington, and as the rescue goes on into the night.
Plus, more news, including tornado warnings in the Southeast.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: Counting the seconds and marking the minutes, that's what families and friends are doing in West Virginia. That's how long it's been, 11 hours and almost 15 minutes since the explosion in a mine there, at least that long, since the explosion in a mine there that has trapped 13 people, according to company officials.
Rescuers have now been in the area, trying to break through the debris for about 2.5 hours to see if they can reach these people, have any communication. We will have more with that as the show goes on.
Zain Verjee is off this week.
Our Mary Snow joins us with a look at other stories making news today -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tom, a winter storm is drenching California, causing some of the worst flooding in decades.
And, for the first time in 50 years, the Tournament of Roses Parade was held in the rain. A privately owned levee failed north of San Francisco, threatening more than 36 homes in San Anselmo. Weekend rains sent four feet of water through downtown.
And they can only wish for rain in Texas and Oklahoma. In those states, the enemy is fire. Scores of homes have been destroyed. And 150,000 acres of grassland have burned. But the winds are calmer -- calmer today, that is. That's allowing tanker planes to get in the air, as firefighters work to contain the blazes. Authorities are warning residents to be extra careful handling anything flammable.
A skating outing turns deadly in southern Germany. At least five people were killed when part of the roof of a skating rink collapsed. One of the dead was an 8-year-old child. At least 20 people were injured. And it took hours for a crane to get through heavy snow to the roof, so the roof could be lifted.
And, in Iraq, the nation's oil minister has resigned in protest of sharp increases in the price of gasoline. Threats and sabotage have reduced supplies. The price hikes are part of an aid deal with the International Monetary Fund. Protesters set fire to gas stations and the offices of at least one oil company -- Tom.
FOREMAN: Thank you so much, Mary.
There is bad weather at various places all over this country.
And Jacqui Jeras is standing by with more on the latest -- Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Tom, we are focusing in on the Atlanta metro area, because we have got about five different tornado warnings which are in effect. And warning means that there is a tornado either on the ground or one that has been indicated on Doppler radar. Right now, these are all Doppler-radar-indicated tornadoes. But many of these cells have a history of producing hail, to the size of golf balls. So, that can cause some very significant damage.
It's a holiday, but there are still some people who had to work, like us, Tom. And, so, we're very concerned about the people commuting , not to mention all the people that are in town for the Sugar Bowl. There you can see all the warnings which are in effect. In the red, those are the tornado warnings.
It includes Dekalb County there, also Gwinnett County, which includes the Lawrenceville area and Duluth, until 6:30, then Butts County, Spalding County, and Lamar County until 6:00. And that includes the Griffin area here.
We're going to zoom in a little bit closer and show you. Here's downtown Atlanta. So, it's not affecting downtown right now. Everything is on the south or on the east side of town. Here's the city of Tucker, concerned about rotation just off to the east in this area over here. All the storms are moving eastward at about 20 miles per hour.
There's a tornado watch in effect for the Atlanta metro area, extending throughout much of northern Georgia, all the way over to the Alabama state line until 10:00 tonight.
But I feel pretty good that once this first line blows on through that the atmosphere is going to stabilize itself a little bit better. So, I think just the next maybe two hours or so, we're very concerned about this developing situation.
We also have severe thunderstorms a little farther up to the north here into the Ohio River Valley. Most of these are hail-makers and some wind damage. But we have had a couple of tornado reports, with very little damage, however, out of Kentucky.
And we have also been watching that mining story, Tom, by the way. These storms, we think, are going to blowing through by the middle of the evening.
FOREMAN: Unbelievable.
JERAS: Back to you.
Jacqui, take a look at this. You warned us about it a little while ago. WAGA has just sent us this video of some of the damage in the Atlanta region. Look at that, trees down, big trees down there, as that big line of storms we have just been talking has swept through there -- these pictures obviously taken a little while ago, because there was still light there. And, as I told you a short while ago, it's pretty much dark on the Eastern Seaboard now.
But we will be keeping track of all those storms as they go through. Thanks for your time, Jacqui. We appreciate your time.
JERAS: Sure.
FOREMAN: We will be keeping up with that and all the other developments happening in the news, in the mining disaster, and throughout this country.
Stick with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: There it is, 11 hours and 22 minutes, at least. That is how long 13 men have been trapped underground in a coal mine in West Virginia. We have been covering the story all day. And it really seems to be revving up now, as we head into the dark hours -- rescue crews trying to reach these people.
Governor Joe Manchin from West Virginia talked to Kyra Phillips earlier on about all the issues involved with this.
Let's take a listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LIVE FROM")
GOV. JOE MANCHIN (D), WEST VIRGINIA: You're starting up a mine, so that means you're putting all your power sources back on to get all your equipment working. We don't know what could have happened. And it's just a horrific accident. And...
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, let's talk about how the -- the miners are equipped for something like this.
I mean, a lot of people are saying, OK, we're thinking about what happened in Pennsylvania, and it was amazing images...
MANCHIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: ... to see those miners brought up.
MANCHIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: But you made up a really -- or -- or made good point that we're talking, that was water. This is gas and fire.
MANCHIN: This is gas and fire, yes.
PHILLIPS: So, let -- let's set the scene for how these are two totally different situations...
MANCHIN: Well...
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: ... with regard to a -- a -- a rescue.
MANCHIN: Right.
Well, Kyra, basically, all miners are equipped to handle, and their -- their equipment that they have is prepare them, you know, for survival, you know, in case something would happen. So, they have an ample -- you know, some supplies for the breathing apparatuses and things of this sort.
And you just have to hope that explosions weren't of the magnitude that it -- it was, you know, horrific from the beginning. But without that, we always have. There's places they can retreat in all these mines. They have, like catacombs, if you will, and they can go back, and they can barricade. And, as we saw with the group with the water...
PHILLIPS: Right.
MANCHIN: ... no difference from this, too. And they're still venting the mines as we're speaking right now.
I spoke to all of our people on site. They're venting, trying to get bad air out and hopefully get some good air in. And, if we can see an improvement of air, then they will make a decision to let the rescue squads in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: WSAZ reporter Laurabree Austin is on the scene. She has been talking to some of the families. And she filed this report a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAURABREE AUSTIN, WSAZ REPORTER: We are in Upshur County, where it has been raining on and off all day today. It is, of course, getting dark now -- so, conditions getting much more difficult for rescue teams to go in and rescue these 13 men who are still trapped.
It's not exactly clear how far underground, could be anywhere from one to three or four miles. But 18 people arrived at work about 6:00 a.m. this morning. Thirteen are still trapped. Five were able to make it out. Those five did go back in, trying to rescue their friends, but didn't have any luck. Now, throughout the whole day, they have been going in. They have been bringing in teams from different places.
The International Coal Group owns this mine. The Sago mine, number one, is where we are. And families are regularly getting updates at a nearby church from them. But there has been no communication with these miners. And they say -- and people who are here say, clearly, it's a very dangerous job.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: Our Jack Cafferty joins us now from New York, looking at this dangerous job in "The Cafferty File" -- Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Tom.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics ranks the most dangerous lines of work every year. And at the top of the most recent list are logging workers, followed, in order, by pilots, fisherman and iron and steel workers. Ironically, with this story today, miners aren't in the top 10.
The question we asked a while ago is, what's the most dangerous line of work?
Scott in Virginia writes: "Police. It's the ultimate unknown for the workers. Most all others in a workplace know the possible hazards and can control them or expect them."
Che in Seattle, Washington: "According to several labor groups, the most dangerous job in the U.S. is working in slaughterhouses, where, usually, immigrant workers are subjected to increased line speeds, fewer breaks, etcetera."
John in Cape Code writes: "That's too easy. Commercial fisherman, by far the most dangerous job."
Barry in British Columbia: "I think rigs drilling for natural gas, the most dangerous. I have worked underground, and it's not that bad."
Sharon in Dallas Texas writes: "I would have to say convenience store clerk. They are killed, often for no reason at all. Convenience store clerk, extremely dangerous occupation."
And Eric in Poughkeepsie, New York: "One of the most dangerous jobs is crop-dusting using aircraft. They have to fly very close to the ground, which is dangerous" -- Tom.
FOREMAN: Thanks so much, Jack -- a lot of people doing jobs that are necessary to be done, but tough jobs, no matter how you look at it.
Bruce Morton joins us now with more.
BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We mine it, we burn it, because we have it. We have lots of it. And it's cheap, and it doesn't come from the Middle East.
We burn about a billion tons a year, but that's OK. We have reserves of more than 200 billion, maybe 200 years of coal, at the rate we use it today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MORTON (voice-over): We don't burn it in our home furnaces as much as we did when I was a kid. A lot of the coal we burn today, 91 percent, one Web site says, is for electricity.
Turn on the kitchen light, probably, and you're burning coal. There are two kinds of mining, surface and deep. Surface just scars the earth. Strip-mining in Appalachia wasn't pretty. Nowadays, they sometimes just take the whole top of a mountain off.
And while coal production in Kentucky and West Virginia is still going up, Wyoming mines the most coal now. And that's surface mining. The West mines a little over half our coal, Appalachia, about 35 percent.
And it's not as deadly as it used to be, more automation, fewer men who have to go down into the mine. In 2001, 13 miners died in an Alabama blast, but that was the worst disaster since 1984.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MORTON: But it's no life, no life for those who go down, no life for the families who wait up above and worry.
My father, my late father, grew up in a coal mining town. That's a long time ago now. But the smartest thing he ever did, I always thought, was walk away from it -- Tom.
FOREMAN: Difficult work, Bruce. Thank you so much for those thoughts.
Difficult time for those families down there, too.
We want to check in one more time with Bruce Dial, our mining expert who has been talking to us about many of the difficulties they have been facing down there.
Bruce, now, as we look at the hours ticking by -- we are well past 11 hours now -- do you find yourself feeling, as we have moved toward darkness, that -- that we should be talking about a different phase of this, or do we just have to wait until we see what the rescuers find?
DIAL: You just have to wait.
We have had cases where people have been under there for days, and they come out alive, not a scratch on them. You have to find out what the situation is and deal with that one at a time, until you get back there and find out one way or the other.
FOREMAN: What do you think, with all of your experience, whenever you hear of a disaster like this? Are there any things that you look for that give you more hope or less hope?
DIAL: One thing that I would be concerned with is if there was a fire continuously burning.
As long as that fire would be continuously burning in the mine, they have to deal with the carbon monoxide and the smoke and the fire.
FOREMAN: And, certainly, fire, in an enclosed mine like that, can still burn for a very long time, correct?
DIAL: Very long time. FOREMAN: And what about the air supplies they travel with right now? You're looking at the hour, as we are now coming up on 11.5 hours since the explosion. They have some air supples. But, briefly, here, those are really quite limited, aren't they?
DIAL: They are limited. They are there to help you get out of the immediate danger, to help you to escape out of the mine, if you can.
The next thing is -- to do is try to find an area that still has ventilation and barricade yourself in.
FOREMAN: So, these people have to rely on their experience. Obviously, the more experience you have in your team, the better off you are. I would guess your experience would tell you that.
That's right. You can't panic. You have to take things slow and take things -- do as your training has taught you and just take it methodically, and your chances are good.
FOREMAN: Probably good advice for all of us above ground, too, at a time like this.
Thanks so much, Bruce Dial, expert on mining safety. We sure appreciate having you here.
We are here every weekday afternoon, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern, and Wolf Blitzer will be here just one hour from now with a special hour on the West Virginia miners who are trapped there. We will be keeping up with all of that. And we will be going back to the scene.
Plus, we will be hearing from a doctor who helped treat the miners rescued in that 2002 Pennsylvania accident which we have talked about so much.
I'm Tom Foreman. Thank you for joining me here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Christine Romans is filling in for Lou Dobbs tonight, and she is standing by in New York -- Christine.
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