http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/03/sago.hearing.ap/index.html BUCKHANNON, West Virginia (AP) -- A state mining inspector revealed Wednesday that his shouting during the Sago Mine disaster might have led the relatives of 12 dead miners to believe the men had been found alive. "I don't recall the exact words I used," said Bill Tucker, an assistant inspector at large for the state Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training. "I was just screaming out for help." "I think I may have said 'They're alive!"' The families, who were gathered in a church near the mine the night of the explosion, erupted in cheers and a celebration that dissolved in misery three hours later when they realized only one miner was alive. Even Gov. Joe Manchin had celebrated what appeared to be a rescue. Tucker was with the rescue team that discovered the bodies barricaded behind a curtain more than two miles inside the mine in early January. Only after he started checking the miners' conditions did he realize only one -- Randal McCloy Jr. -- had a pulse. "I picked up the radio and I hollered over the radio that we only have one (alive)," Tucker testified as a two-day hearing into the explosion and its aftermath entered its second day. On Tuesday, victims' relatives spoke at the two-day public hearing about the Sago Mine disaster. "We must do something to prevent any more miners dying and having to endure this awful pain," said Peggy Cohen, whose father, Fred Ware, was killed. "Please do not leave any stone unturned. Twelve men, good family men, lost their lives, and we deserve answers to our questions." The families want to know whether lightning caused the blast inside the mine. They also want to know how the false news spread that 12 men were alive and why it took MSHA 11 hours after the explosion before allowing rescue teams to begin search for the trapped crew. (Watch miner's daughter explain how dad took the sadness out of single life -- 6:29) It was only the second time the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has allowed families to testify at a public hearing, said J. Davitt McAteer, a former MSHA director who is chairing the session. "Most of all, they have a right to expect that everything necessary will be done to improve mine health and safety conditions in the United States so that the Sago Mine disaster will be remembered as a turning point, as well as a tragedy," said McAteer, who also is in charge of the state's investigation. Only one miner, Randal McCloy Jr., was carried out of the mine alive more than 41 hours after the Jan. 2 blast. McCloy was not expected to participate at the hearings. In a letter to the victims' families last week, McCloy said at least four of his crew's air packs had failed, forcing the men to share what little oxygen they had as the mine filed with smoke and carbon monoxide. Following his revelation, the United Mine Workers of America called Monday for immediate nationwide testing of the self-contained self-rescuers, or SCSRs. "Every miner working today must know, without the shadow of a doubt, that the SCSR he or she straps to their belt before they go to work and the ones that are stored underground for emergency use will function properly," said UMW President Cecil Roberts. Gov. Joe Manchin asked McAteer to submit a report on the accident by July 1, along with recommendations on how to make coal mines safer. But McAteer said before the hearing that deadline could be pushed back after families expressed concern that the process would be rushed. International Coal Group Inc. has said it believes a powerful lightning strike somehow triggered the blast. It offers three pieces of evidence: Weather monitors confirmed an unusually large strike near the mine, a U.S. Geologic Survey station confirmed a seismic event at Sago and the mine's own atmospheric alarms sounded. But state and federal investigators have not determined a cause and will press ICG to explain its conclusion during the second day of the hearing. ------------- my vote for biggest nincompoop of all time.
