Rescue Halted as Mine Air Turns "Explosive"

Updated at 11:40 p.m. ET

A federal safety official said more air testing would be needed before rescue teams could head back into a West Virginia coal mine Thursday night to look for four miners missing since an explosion killed 25 workers.

Kevin Stricklin, coal administrator from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said levels of noxious gases had dropped but not enough for the crews to re-enter the Upper Big Branch mine about 30 miles south of Charleston.

He said sampling would continue. If levels failed to drop by ventilation, crews were planning to pump in nitrogen to neutralize the atmosphere. It was unclear why they didn't start pumping in nitrogen sooner.

The rescuers spent more than four hours working their way through the Upper Big Branch mine by rail car and on foot, but had to turn back earlier Thursday.

Rescuers running on adrenaline waited Thursday for a massive drill to vent noxious gas so they could safely resume the underground search for four coal miners missing since an explosion that killed 25 colleagues.

They had spent more than four hours working their way through the Upper Big Branch mine by rail car and on foot, but had to turn back because of an explosive mix of gases in the area they needed to search.

They had made it within 500 feet of an airtight chamber with four days worth of food, water and oxygen where they hoped the miners might have sought refuge after the worst U.S. mining disaster in more than two decades.

Crews at the surface resumed drilling to get fresh air into the mine. Gov. Joe Manchin said Thursday evening that the levels were near those considered safe.

"We're just moving as quickly as we can," Manchin said. "We want to bring the loved ones back."

Chris Adkins, chief operating officer for mine owner Massey Energy Co., said the rescue teams were "very angry" when told to abandon the mission, but their safety was paramount. He said the teams are off their feet and resting, but too anxious to sleep.

Despite the increasingly slim chance of finding anyone alive, Adkins said he considers the effort a rescue mission.

"I still believe in God, I believe, and I'm not gonna give up," he said.

The rescue crews did not get far enough to see the bodies of the dead or if anyone had made it to the chamber. They knew where the bodies would be because rescuers made it that far after the explosion Monday before gases also forced them out of the mine.

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Officials were not sure what caused the high gas levels this time but said a drop in barometric pressure as a storm rolled in might be to blame.

The rescue crews were leaving their equipment behind so they did not have to lug it back in with them when they returned.

Rescuers had already had to wait to enter the mine until crews drilled holes deep into the earth to ventilate lethal carbon monoxide and highly explosive hydrogen as well as methane gas, which has been blamed for the explosion. The air quality was deemed safe enough early in the day for four teams of eight members each to go on what officials were still calling a rescue mission, but later tests showed the air was too dangerous to continue.

Once inside, rescuers had to walk through an area officials have described as strewn with bodies, twisted railroad track, shattered concrete block walls and vast amounts of dust. Each team member was wearing 30 pounds of breathing equipment, lugging first-aid equipment and trying to see through total darkness with only a cap lamp to light the way.

Adkins said rescue teams described seeing evidence of "a horrendous explosion and a lot of destruction."

He also said they may have found an alternate route that will allow them to get where they need to be faster when they can safely go back in.

Once that happens, rescuers will have to walk through an area officials have described as strewn with bodies, twisted railroad track, shattered concrete block walls and vast amounts of dust. Each team member wears 30 pounds of breathing equipment, lugs first-aid equipment and must try to see through total darkness with only a cap lamp to light the way.

More on the mine disaster:

Mine Worker: "There are no Safe Mines"
Mine Official: "Something Went Seriously Wrong"
Photos: W. Va. Mine Explosion
Coal Mine CEO Blankenship's Revealing Tweets
Mine CEO Doesn't Rule out Violations as Cause
W. Va. Coal Mine Blast: The Victims
List Of Recent Fatal U.S. Mine Disasters
In Coal Mines, Risk of Death Is Part of Life
Mines not Paying Fines a Familiar Story
Obama Offers "Deepest Condolences"
Gov.: "No Excuse" for Mine Safety Flaws
Eerie Statement from Miner Killed in Blast
Mining Company Previously Fined for Safety

Officials and townsfolk and even some family members acknowledged they didn't expect to find any of the four missing miners alive more than two days after the massive explosion.

"This was a scenario that we didn't want," Manchin said as he briefed reporters about the evacuations. Families of those still in the mine continued to arrive at a training center there to await word of their fate, and Manchin estimated that perhaps 100 have gathered so far.

"They understand that if we have any hope of survival and they're in a rescue chamber, then they're OK," Manchin said. "That's the sliver of hope we have."

"In my honest opinion, if anyone else survives it, I will be surprised," said James Griffith, who works at the mine. His brother, William "Bob" Griffith, went to work Monday and never came home. William Griffith's brother-in-law, Carl Acord, died in the explosion.

Two miners were injured in the blast but managed to get out. One was in intensive care and the other was in good condition, but Manchin described him as being "in total withdrawal" and said he does not want to talk to anyone.

Seven bodies had been brought out Monday and authorities hoped to recover 18 others known dead from the mine owned by Massey Energy Co., which has been cited for numerous safety violations.

The mine is outfitted with air-quality sensors that shut down some of the mining machinery when methane levels reach a high level.

Manchin said it's unclear whether the methane levels reached that point prior to the blast, or whether the sensors detected it. However, the positioning of several bodies begs the question: "Did a sensor not go off?" the governor said Thursday.

"The miners that they found, it doesn't look like anyone was alarmed or warned," he said. "They were just sitting in the mantrip," an underground rail car.

Even with high gas levels inside the mine, there must have been a source of ignition, Manchin said, and it's unclear what that might have been.

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has appointed a team of investigators to look into the blast, which officials said may have been caused by a buildup of methane.

In 2009, Upper Big Branch was cited 50 times for "unwarrantable failures." And 38 times inspectors wrote "ventilation violations" - a repeated sign the mine was failing to properly remove explosive gases, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr. Investigators suspect it was a buildup of methane gas that triggered Monday's blast.

Two large fines assessed in January when federal inspectors found dirty air flowing into an escapeway where fresh air should be, and an emergency air system flowing in the wrong direction. Miners were so concerned about the conditions that several told their congressman they were afraid to go back into the mine.

Former mine safety official Celeste Monforton says it's clear that critical warnings were ignored.

"This is not an accident. This is not an accident," Monforton told Orr. Mining engineers dating back 100 years have understood the fatal mix of coal dust and methane and we know how to control those."

Even on the day of the blast, MSHA cited the mine with two safety violations - one involving inadequate maps of escape routes, the other concerning an improper splice of electrical cable. However, Stricklin said those violations had nothing to do with the blast.

Massey CEO Don Blankenship has strongly defended the company's record and disputed accusations from miners that he puts coal profits ahead of safety. On Thursday, he began using the social networking site Twitter to communicate about the disaster.

"Pray for the families and the rescue workers," he tweeted. He also praised the rescue efforts and got in a dig at what he called the "indignity of much of the media."

The Upper Big Branch mine produced more than 1.2 million tons of coal last year and uses the lowest-cost underground mining method, making it more profitable. It produces metallurgical coal that is used to make steel and sells for up to $200 a ton - more than double the price for the type of coal used by power plants.

The confirmed death toll of 25 was the highest in a U.S. mine since 1984, when 27 people died in a fire at a mine in Orangeville, Utah. If the four missing bring the total to 29, it will be the worst U.S. coal mining disaster since a 1970 explosion killed 38 in Hyden, Ky.

The effect of so many sudden deaths in the area's small coal-reliant communities started showing with obituaries for the victims appearing in local newspapers. The first five funerals were scheduled for Friday and Saturday.