Word: mining
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...three ecstatic hours the people of Upshur County, W. Va., believed another miracle in the mines had occurred. How else could 12 men trapped underground, in an airless mine shaft, survive for almost two days? ?We?re just completely overjoyed,? said Lynette Roby, a resident of Sago, W. Va. She waited at 1:30 a.m. on a muddy road in the rain to catch a glimpse of the rescued miners through ambulance windows...
...However the rumor started-the CEO of the mine company blamed it on a ?miscommunication?-the tragedy hit this Appalachian community hard. Most everyone here knows a miner or works in the mines himself, and hundreds of residents came out to support the families and friends of the trapped men. West Virginia?s governor, Joe Manchin, was on the scene but he too seemed caught up in the euphoria of the false report. ?Miracles do happen,? he said, before learning the truth...
...ordeal began early Monday morning when a powerful explosion erupted inside an old, sealed-off section of the mine. The blast reverberated for miles around. ?I thought the roof of my house was coming off,? said Lynette Roby. One group of miners had lingered close to the mine entrance and was able to escape. Another group of 13 had ventured about 2.5 miles into the shaft and was trapped in a cloud of dust and carbon monoxide. One member of this group, fire boss Marty Bennett, had been traveling a few hundred feet in the rear, monitoring oxygen levels...
...Baptist church and announced that there were 12 survivors. Hundreds of people surged out the door. Church bells rang. For a brief spell, it appeared, there would be a repeat of the stunning 2002 rescue of nine Pennsylvania miners, who had survived more than three days underground after their mine had flooded...
...reality, rescuers at the bottom of the West Virginia mine had said there were no more survivors-and rescuers at the surface, listening through a scratchy connection, had misunderstood. "They managed to turn this town upside down", said Terry Hinchman, a boyhood friend of a deceased miner, Fred Ware Jr., and cousin of another, Marty Bennett. The only survivor: Ronald McCloy, age 23, the youngest of the group. Taken to Ruby Hospital in Morgantown, he was listed in serious condition...