MONTCOAL DISASTER ENDS GRAVESIDE

In coalfields, days of prayer end in sorrow
Allen G. Breed (w/Greg Bluestein, Lawrence Messina, Dena Potter and Vicki Smith), April 11, 2010, (AP via San Jose Mercury News)

"…In this narrow, river-bound valley, the 125-year-old Jarrell General Merchandise store is the closest thing to a community center. Jarrell normally closes up around 5:30 p.m., but the steady stream of people stopping by to offer or ask for news continued until 3 the next morning…[T[he news trickling in grew grimmer and grimmer. Seven dead. Twelve dead. Twenty-five. Perhaps more…The community needed the store, this gathering place, more than ever. And Jarrell knew that there would be a need for the other service he provides the valley…Graves would need digging.

"At 3:02 p.m. last Monday, computers on the surface detected a major seismic event deep inside the mine. It came from about a mile and a half inside the mountain, near an area known as the "Glory Hole." …[C]oal car operator Melvin Lynch, 50, of Mount Hope, felt his ears pop. Suddenly, the mine went dark…Lynch and the other men on his crew made their way to the surface. It was only when another crew emerged and reported that they'd been showered with debris that Lynch knew that something was wrong…By 4 p.m., the first word of fatalities reached the surface. Lynch's older brother, Roosevelt, 59, was among them."

Rescuers emerging empty-handed. (click to enlarge)

"…Gov. Joe Manchin was in South Florida, enjoying a visit with friends. The legislative session had just ended, a budget had been approved, so Manchin and his wife, Gayle, jumped on a plane…Manchin was chatting when a member of his security detail came in and said there'd been an accident…Manchin's mind instantly reeled back to a frigid January morning in 2006…when word came of a methane explosion at the Sago Mine in Upshur County…The 12 resulting deaths inspired state and federal safety legislation requiring coal operators to improve underground communications, and to equip their mines with airtight chambers stocked with enough food, water and oxygen to last several days…As Manchin—whose own uncle was among 78 killed in a 1968 mine explosion—rushed to catch a plane home, he found some comfort in the thought that if any of the Montcoal miners had survived the initial blast, they had somewhere to hunker down and await rescue…

"At 4:58 p.m., Massey Energy Co., the parent company of mine operator Performance Coal, sent out its first press release about the explosion. A little over three hours later, the company announced the first casualties—seven dead, 19 unaccounted for…Kevin Stricklin of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration announced that the known death toll had risen to 12. But he also offered what he considered a hopeful sign: Rescue crews had found a cache of self-contained breathing devices from which several appeared to be missing, perhaps taken by the miners…Not long after, company officials informed the families that two miners had been taken to area hospitals alive, but that there were now 25 confirmed casualties…That still left four men unaccounted for. But at 1:42 a.m. Tuesday, a Massey press release announced that rescue crews had been pulled from the mine "due to conditions underground"—smoke and, worse, high concentrations of carbon-monoxide and explosive methane gas…"

click to enlarge

"Manchin arrived on the scene before dawn Tuesday. After getting the latest briefing, he went to visit with the families…He was speaking with Linda Davis—whose son, Timmy Davis Sr. and grandsons, Cory Davis, 20, and Napper were unaccounted for—when an aide walked up and handed him a piece of paper with the four latest confirmed fatalities...Manchin was horrified to see the three men's names were on it. The governor quickly ushered the family into a private room…"Linda," he said. "They didn't make it." …"Were they together?" she asked quietly… Amazed at the woman's strength, Manchin replied, "Yes. They were all together." …By then, the Quarles children had also learned that their father would not be coming home. At 9:36 a.m., Trevor Quarles logged onto MySpace and wrote simply: "R.I.P. Dad ILY." …[Finally, the announcement that the last four had been found]...Death appears to have come instantaneously [for all]…

"When Jarrell started digging graves two decades ago, all the work was done by hand, with shovels. Nowadays, he uses his Mustang backhoe on some jobs, but most of Raleigh County's family cemeteries are perched on hillsides too steep, in hollows too narrow and isolated for heavy machinery…Despite torrential rains Thursday that turned the hillside into a muddy soup, Jarrell and a cousin stabbed at the rocky earth with their spades for 5 1/2 hours, quitting only when the sun set. On Friday morning, the two men, accompanied by Jarrell's nephew, a Marine home on leave, returned with a jackhammer to break through the last few inches of sandstone and shale…"