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Seeking Answers At W.Va. Coal Mine

Federal investigators looking into the West Virginia mine explosion that killed 12 miners promise to ask tough questions about the misinformation that that filtered to relatives indicating most of their loved ones had survived.

But it is already clear there will be no answer good enough to make up for the pain caused, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.

Families and friends of the 12 men huddled at a candlelight vigil Wednesday night just across from the mine entrance, offering prayers and remembering the dozen fathers, sons and brothers that were lost.

Meanwhile, "miracle survivor" Randal McCloy remained in critical condition Thursday morning at West Virginia University's Ruby Memorial Hospital, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston. He is on a respirator and is unable to talk, but somehow he managed to respond to his wife, through facial expressions and squeezing her hand.

The residents of the central Appalachian coal community of Tallmansville, W. Va., want to know how an explosion two miles into a mountain had trapped 13 of their men and how someone could tell them that 12 of the miners had somehow survived the blast.

Most of all, they want to know who got the information wrong, and to understand why state and company officials let them rejoice for more than two hours before telling them that instead of 12 survivors, they would be bringing home 12 corpses.

"It was an emotional rollercoaster. We had that hope one time and then the next time we had bad news," relative Judy Shackelford said on CBS News' The Early Show Thursday. "But we kind of knew that [Terry Helms] was probably the first one to go because of his job and where he got off of the belt. But we're dealing with it."

Ben Hatfield, chief executive of mine owner International Coal Group Inc., said that the Ashland, Ky.-based company did the best it could under extreme stress and exhaustion, and that officials "sincerely regret" the families were left to believe for so long that their loved ones were alive.

"In the process of being cautious, we allowed the jubilation to go on longer than it should have," a choked-up Hatfield said.

Grieving family members and others returned to the Sago Baptist Church near the mine Wednesday night with candles and hymnals to start healing the only way they know how — by praying.

One by one, people were given the chance to talk about the victims. Many were friends or fellow coal miners.

"I know the men under that hill and I called them my brothers," one miner said, his voice cracking with emotion. The service also included a solemn hymn with the line: "Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine. We'll understand it, all day by day."

The nation's deadliest coal mining accident in more than four years began with an explosion 260 feet underground early Monday that federal investigators have yet to explain. But coal mine explosions are typically caused by buildups of naturally occurring methane gas or highly combustible coal dust in the air.

David Dye, who heads the Mine Safety and Health Administration, said the investigation — which will likely focus on the buildup of naturally occurring methane gas and coal dust in the mine — will also probe "how emergency information was relayed about the trapped miners' conditions."

"We was looking for them to come through that door, man," a red-eyed John Casto said Wednesday as he stood beside a funeral home tent in back of the Sago Baptist Church, where the bells had tolled the "miracle" just hours before. "And it didn't happen that way."

The tale that is emerging is one of miscommunication, wishful thinking and an unwavering faith in God and the toughness of West Virginia coal miners.

About 38 hours after Monday's blast, the hopes of one of 13 miners' families came crashing down. Gov. Joe Manchin told families gathered at the little white clapboard church in the hollow across from the mine that rescuers had found one man dead.

But in the same instant in the mist-shrouded hollow, the hopes of 12 other families rose. The buggy the men had ridden into the mine had not been damaged in the suspected methane gas blast, and the men had apparently gathered their self-rescue gear and lunch buckets and walked off under their own steam.

Suddenly, at about 11:48 p.m. Tuesday, people came streaming out of the hollow from the church. They were screaming: They've found them! All 12 are alive!

Casto, who knew three of the trapped men, was standing in the church's tin-roofed fellowship hall when a man burst through the front door and shouted: "There still are miracles, because there are 12 men alive!"

The word spread like wildfire.

Shortly thereafter, Casto said, another man rushed into the sanctuary and announced that emergency crews were going to bring the men up to the church to feed them and reunite them with their families.

Hatfield, said Wednesday that taking the miners to the church was never part of the emergency plan, which called for any survivors to immediately be transported to a hospital. "We had no idea what they were being told," Hatfield said.

The announcement seemed to puzzle Manchin, who told the families he was going back to the mine to get more information.

Still, when a woman asked him privately if the 12 men were alive, the governor said quietly, "Yes."

Manchin would say later he got "caught up in the euphoria." But what was supposed to have been a personal exchange was overheard, and a private word of encouragement suddenly took the shape of official confirmation from the highest level of state government.

Shortly after midnight, Manchin repeated in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that 12 men had been found alive.

"It is a miracle; there's no other explanation," he said.

At 1:12 a.m., a single ambulance sped off. People standing in the straw-strewn mud across the road applauded the lone passenger. They had no idea that McCloy would be the only person brought out alive.

As the time ticked away, the gathering at the church began getting restless.

Hatfield told reporters that mine officials held off announcing the men were dead while they tried to make certain that was the case.

Hatfield said the initial mistake resulted from a miscommunication among the rescue crews. Another ICG executive, vice president Gene Kitts, suggested that the misunderstanding resulted because the rescuers wearing full-face oxygen masks and used radios to report their findings to their base.

Hatfield told the crowd at the church that the information was backward: It was 12 dead and only one survivor, the deadliest mining accident in West Virginia in 37 years.

A woman stormed out of the sanctuary, cursing and yelling "liars!" A man lunged forward and had to be restrained by police. Two elderly women fainted.

Angry family members railed about the delay in stopping the celebration, but Manchin said it was not the time for finger-pointing.

"To put blame on anybody is wrong," he said. "Everyone has worked so hard. ... Our odds were long against us that we would find the miners, but I still had that hope."

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