West Virginia Coal Mine tragedy - AfroChat - African American

saraphen · January 4th, 2006, 02:50 PM

If you have been following this story, you probably heard last night that 12 miners survived. Then the story was reversed this morning....only one survived. Now they're investigating the cause of the explosion in the first place. And how did they report that mistake last night, and had the families celebrating for THREE HOURS thinking that the men were alive, before they were finally told the truth.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060104/...kxBHNlYwN0bQ--

DBlack · January 4th, 2006, 03:56 PM

I'm not sure what's worse, the misinformation or their deaths. Well, of course their deaths are more important, it's just unimaginable the pain the families must be enduring right now.

JamieC · January 4th, 2006, 05:03 PM

They were talking about this tragic event on MSNBC this morning and I'm just wondering how in the world there was miscommunication? Looks to me like someone opened their mouth sooner they initially should've. And to stall those poor folks out for 3 hours is beyond me. These folks had high hopes in the safe rescue of family members then the Governor says "opps, we made a mistake". Not to mention that the mine had over 270 something violations during 2005 alone!!! C'mon now.

Like that one woman said "I'm sueing". That's got to be such a heartache as well as headache when you think the person you love is gonna be ok, but all hope slaps ya in the face when they finally admit there was never really any hope, we just tried to pacify you by lying about it.

Chelbe · January 4th, 2006, 09:32 PM

It's sad. Unfortunately there were miscommunication issues toward the end, but I feel the families of the victims should sue for all of the known violations alone. Atleast there was one sole survivor and I hope that he recovers to the best of his ability.

soulbrotha · January 4th, 2006, 09:42 PM

This is why I've always been in favor of labor unions. No one watches out for the lil man while big business gets away with murder, literally. If they had been allowed to participate in an organized labor union, they could have not worked until the safety failures were fixed, but it was forbidden by this business for its employees to participate in labor unions. Just my vent!

saraphen · January 6th, 2006, 08:13 AM

Miners' Notes Reveal Their Final Moments

TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - Tom Toler identified the body of his youngest brother. And then he was handed a message from the dead man. In wobbly printing, written in ink on the back of an insurance application, 51-year-old miner Martin Toler Jr. said goodbye. For now.

"(I'll) see them on the other side," the note said. "It wasn't bad. I just went to sleep. I love you."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060106/...kxBHNlYwN0bQ--

There were other notes found. They all have to be as chilling as this one.