http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10682163/

I'll be praying for them, and I hope you do as well.

 

I hope and pray they find and rescue all of the miners!I hope everyone is Ok! Thanks Jack for letting everyone know.

 

I know the jobs gotta be done but you will never catch me in a mine. My self preservation instinct wont allow me in there for reasons just like this. I hope they get them out safely.

 

Being from WV I have been around mining nearly my whole life, the guys that go underground to mine would never do anything else, it takes a certain kind of person but many wouldn't change their job for nothing, they love their little cities under the ground.

God be with the miners and their families.

 

I came from a mining family and spent my formative years underground ... but you'd be hard pressed to get me in a coal mine. That is one of, if not THE MOST dangerous place on earth.

I pray for their safety and thier families.

PISTOL

 

This part of the story is very disturbing:
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2006010212

 

I am praying for the safe rescue of the trapped miners. What I cannot understand is how the company can tunnel this mine more than 2 miles underground with no air vent holes drilled periodically along the way to assist with emergencies such as this. If these small holes were drillled perpendicular to the mine they could be used for fresh air and rescue in times of emergency. Does not seem to me that it would cost much to do this and would greatly assist with emergencies. Can anyone explain why this is not done???

John (DH)

 

Topography


This is a slope mine under a mountain, not the classic shaft mine like around me....Kinda hard to get drilling equipment up the side of a mountain...One reason why this will be a very complex rescue/recovery

 

Very sad indeed. I was up until 12:15 last night just waiting for them to say everyone was okay. (supposed to be getting back into my "work" schedule, didn't do so well on that).

I hear you BBWD, you wouldn't think they would be allowed to do such a ting? I mean, only 260 feet below grade, with a 10,000 foot long tunnel ??

The other thing that struck me as odd was that when they finally did decide to drill down to try to make contact (test air, or whatever) they Drill a 6" hole?

My well casing is bigger? I'm no miner, but I would think they could get a 2 foot auger out there and really be doing something, I mean 6"?? Took them overnight to even get that done?

I imagine that it takes things like this to change whole industries (standards, practices, etc.). You wouldn't catch me under there without some kind of escape plan, and not one that inlcuded barracading myself in to wait for rescuers.

Feeling bad for kids that look as if they may be fatherless here shortly.

 

Best of luck to them. BBWD, I agree with you. It seems that when they had to they were able to get drilling equipment on site to drill air holes. Then with the safety violations that they are talking about you have to wonder??? Anyway speculation doesn't help now, I just will pray for a miracle.

 

Had a lump in my throat listening to the radio comeing in this morning. They don't sound optimistic with the gas level testing, still have my fingers crossed.

 

I guess you guys dont understand mines....This isnt flat land where they can go out and drill a hole...This is in the MOUNTAINS....And this is a slope mine, where they tunnel in sideways...Not a vertical shaft mine...I'd like to see somebody run a drill rig up a 60 degree slope...What can they do, drill from a helicopter?? Not to mention, they're drilling in rock....Its a heck of alot faster to drill several small holes, in different places.......Big drilling is slow....One big hole is putting all your eggs in one basket...Drill a bunch of small ones faster, maybe get lucky, then focus on the big dig...But they cant drill here....The mine was built by tunneling sideways, not by drilling down.....

From what I understood, they drilled that hole sideways...


Doesnt matter what kind of mine or what kind of ventilation system they have, it will likely be rendered useless in a collapse....Even if the air handling system is doing its job, thats not always a good thing....What if there is a fire underground, which seems to be the case here?? Your pumping in fresh air to it....The CO level there is beyond lethal....The highest I ever saw inside a home was around 450ppm....Those people were BAD sick...The point where they sampled the mine was what 1400ppm? Thats a non-survivable exposure...Doesnt mean that the miners are dead, they could be somewhere else in the mine...


And now I'm hearing the talking heads on TV complain about time....I get so sick of it...Bunch of white-collar brain cells who dont have a day of real labor under their belt, complaining about this and that....So-called "experts" who cant tell the difference between anthracite and bituminous....Get some dirt on your face and then tell me about working faster....

there are 13 guys down there...There are procedures that must be followed or that number will grow exponentially....Collapse rescue is not a quick and easy process....The problems of this situation are magnified 10 times or more....



Long story short:

It took how many years to excavte the collapsed area?
Now we expect to excavate that section out in a few days? (And it's said they're working slow)


I think I'll stop here...sorry for sounding negative, but I tend to be realstic about things...

 

What generally happens, fellas ... is that they usually run collapsable ventilation trunks along the inside of the shaft or incline as they go. Sometimes they drive larger ventilation shafts periodically the farther back into the mountain they go. Much cheaper than drilling and also much easier to install / move and repair etc ...

I believe that one of the main reasons for not drilling small vent shafts along the way is actually to assist in smothering out a fire if/when it starts underground. A fire has to have O2 to burn and I am sure that you have heard how long some of those coal mine fires burn when there is enough oxygen. Oany times, it will burn until all ove the coal has been used up ... sometimes years after it starts.

I haven't read the latest link ... by the sound of you guy's responses, it doesn't look good.

PISTOL

 

Obviously you are not familiar with the terrain in that area, we are talking mountains so steep, a Billy Goat would walk around them. These tunnels follow a seam of coal that is often only 3 to 4 feet thick and snakes up and down and around the mountain.

They may only be 260 feet below the surface, but they can stretch for miles under very difficult terrain to walk on, let alone set up drilling equipment.

Again you are not aware of what they are dealing with here at all. The seam of coal is soft so they can mine it rather easily, but above it can lie some of the toughest hard rock known. Getting a 6 inch hole through that stuff in the amount of time it took them, is nothing short of miraculous.

A 2 ft auger might take a week to go the same distance. I understand you are upset as all of us are, but you make it sound as though these rescuers are not doing all that they can in this dire situation.

I can assure you that you could not be any further from the truth on that account. All these guys work the mines and have family in them everyday, in harms way. They work non stop often without eating for days trying to save their fathers and brothers as they know it could just as easily be them trapped below. I imagine they would even do it if YOU were down that dark hole trapped.

On that we can both agree, my prayers are with them and their families.

 

Most of my comments were probably in line with what a lot of people are thinking, or let me rephrase that, feeling. In a time of desperation and pain, for the loved ones every minute feels like an hour. Note the question marks are indicating actual questions, not sarcasm. The opening sentence shows my heart, that wasn't quoted because if couldn't be misconstrued as confrontational.


If it looking like I was saying they (rescuers) aren't and or weren't doing everything possible that was not my intent.
I was laying in the comfort of my cozy home, in bed at 12:15 PM lying there in frustration, seem's very "human" to me to wonder and hope that ALL that can be done is being done.