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Two ex-Sago miners commit suicide Wednesday, September 27, 2006 The Associated Press MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Two miners whose jobs included watching over safety at the Sago Mine before the deadly explosion last January committed suicide in the past month. Neither man had been blamed for the disaster that killed 12 of their comrades, and neither one's family has definitively linked the suicides to the accident. But those who knew the men say there is little doubt the tragedy haunted them. "I'm not sure anybody ever gets over it," said Vickie Boni, the ex-wife of one of them. "You live with...

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Inspections of Kentucky's underground mines uncovered 134 defective breathing devices, state regulators announced Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT All but one of the defective air packs, which have been removed, were the type used by miners who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in an eastern Kentucky mine explosion in May and in the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia in January. They were manufactured by CSE Corp. of Monroeville, Pa.

Doctors marvel at miner By Allison M. Heinrichs TRIBUNE-REVIEW Friday, March 31, 2006 MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The sole survivor of the Sago Mine explosion left a West Virginia rehabilitation center on Thursday as a medical miracle, and doctors vowed to learn from his rapid and unexpected recovery. "It's basically almost like he's resurrected," said Dr. Russell Biundo

Sago Mine Blast Survivor Leaves Hospital POSTED: 10:11 am EST March 30, 2006 UPDATED: 10:49 am EST March 30, 2006 MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Sago Mine survivor Randal McCloy Jr., looking thin and stiff but walking on his own, offered his gratitude Thursday as he was released from a hospital Thursday after almost three months. "I'd just like to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers" McCloy said softly, wearing a ball cap and a racing-team jacket at a morning news conference. He paused, then added with a weak smile, "I believe that's it." His wife, Anna, who held his hand...

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...

ELKINS, W.Va. -- A former Sago Mine foreman was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday on charges that he falsified inspection reports at the mine in 2004 and was never certified as an underground miner or a mine foreman. The 116-count indictment against Robert L. Dennison, 35, of Wallace is not related to the Jan. 2 explosion that killed 12 miners at the Upshur County mine, U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Johnston said. Dennison was hired in May 2004 by the mine's former owner, Anker Energy, and was fired in August 2004 when the company found out he was not...

Friends in the White House Come to Coal's Aid By CHRISTOPHER DREW and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. WASHINGTON - In 1997, as a top executive of a Utah mining company, David Lauriski proposed a measure that could allow some operators to let coal-dust levels rise substantially in mines. The plan went nowhere in the government. Last year, it found enthusiastic backing from one government official - Mr. Lauriski himself. Now head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, he revived the proposal despite objections by union officials and health experts that it could put miners at greater risk of black-lung...

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- The sole survivor of an explosion that killed 12 men at a West Virginia coal mine is responding to simple commands as he continues to emerge from a light coma, doctors said Tuesday. Randal L. McCloy Jr., 26, can now follow movements with his eyes, but he remains unable to speak, Dr. Larry Roberts said. McCloy, who survived the Jan. 2 blast and more than 41 hours of exposure to carbon monoxide, is also receiving physical therapy. He began opening his eyes last week. One of the 12 miners may have died in the explosion, and...

NEWS ALERT Sago Mine disaster survivor Randal McCloy Jr. "awakening from coma," doctor says

Families of the Sago miners, Governor Manchin, Mrs. Manchin, Senator Byrd, Senator Rockefeller, West Virginians, friends, neighbors, all who have come here today to remember those brave men who have gone on before us, who ventured into the darkness but instead showed us the light, a light that shines on all West Virginians and the nation today: It is a great honor to be here. I am accompanied by three men I grew up with, the rocket boys of Coalwood: Roy Lee Cooke, Jimmie O'Dell Carroll, and Billy Rose. My wife Linda, an Alabama girl, is here with me as...

Size: Here’s a headline you aren’t likely to see: “Sago mine tragedy defies improved mine safety trend under the Bush administration.” Yet, the facts support it. Mining fatalities have dropped every year President Bush has been in the White House, according to the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Since 2001, mining deaths averaged 63 a year, which is 30% lower than during the Clinton administration. The fatality rate has dropped as well -- it was 31% lower in 2004 than it was in the last year of the Clinton administration. In fact, it was during the Clinton years that the...

Ex-miner recalls Sago: 'It was a hellhole' By Robin Acton TRIBUNE-REVIEW Friday, January 6, 2006 SAGO, W.Va. - When you work in West Virginia's nonunion coal mines, one of the first things you learn is to keep your mouth shut. You don't talk about the knee-deep water or the mud or rocks falling onto your helmet. You sure don't complain about old equipment, or tell people that you're worried about safety.

BUCKHANNON, W. Va., Jan 5 (Reuters) - The sole survivor of a mine disaster that killed 12 men lay in a coma on Thursday as residents of the tight-knit West Virginia community struggled to understand the latest tragedy in the history of this dangerous profession. But doctors feared that Randal McCloy, the only survivor among 13 miners trapped underground for 42 hours after an explosion on Monday morning at the Sago mine in Tallmansville, could suffer some brain damage as a result of his ordeal. Though mining disasters are nothing new, this one was made more poignant by the fact...

I often decry the laziness, incompetence and bias of the American press. Tuesday night in Sago, West Virginia, the press sank to an all-time low, in covering the mine disaster. Working on the Internet, with a 24-hour news channel running, I heard the announcement that the original reports were false. Instead of one miner dead and 12 rescued, the reverse was true. Only one was found alive where they had barricaded themselves in, to await rescue. An orgy of press coverage followed, in which reporters stuck microphones in the faces of grief-stricken survivors, seeking agonizing sound bites for the titillation...