Mine Owner Blames Lightning For Sago Blast

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 3-15-2006 | Vicki Smith

[blam]

Mine Owner Blames Lightning for Sago Blast

Wednesday March 15, 2006 12:31 AM

By VICKI SMITH

Associated Press Writer

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - An explosion that killed 12 workers at the Sago Mine likely was caused by a massive lightning strike that ignited methane gas in a sealed-off area, the mine's owner said Tuesday.

The company's own investigation turned up three pieces of compelling evidence of a lightning strike, all from 6:26 a.m. on Jan. 2, said Ben Hatfield, chief executive officer of International Coal Group Inc.

He said weather monitors confirmed an unusually large and powerful lightning strike near the mine; the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed a seismic event at Sago; and the mine's own atmospheric monitoring system signaled a combustion alarm.

The precise route the electrical charge followed remains under investigation, but Hatfield said there is no evidence that a nearby gas well contributed to the explosion.

Hatfield broke the news to miners' families in a series of private meetings Tuesday, and Sago workers were to be briefed Tuesday night as they returned to work. The coal mine is set to resume production Wednesday.

``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,'' Hatfield said. ``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.''

The explosion trapped a crew of 13 men more than 250 feet underground for more than 40 hours. By the time rescue teams reached them, all but one had perished, most slowly succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning. Survivor Randal L. McCloy Jr. is still recovering from severe brain damage and other injuries.

[kenth]

The company didn't find itself at fault.

[Supernatural]

The company never finds itself at fault.

MSHA, the federal mining bureau, will find the company at fault, if it was their fault.

[EBH]

Hatfield said the team concluded the explosion occurred behind 40-inch-thick, dense foam block seals that were designed to withstand 20 pounds per square inch of pressure. The seals, called Omega blocks, were pulverized by a blast that initial calculations suggest had forces of at least three times that amount in some locations.

That's a lot of force.