Some of the 12 coal miners who died after being trapped deep underground by an explosion left behind notes assuring family members that they did not suffer in their final hours.
”The notes said they weren’t suffering, they were just going to sleep,” said Peggy Cohen, who was called to a makeshift morgue at a school in Tallmansville, West Virginia, to identify the body of her father, machine operator Fred Ware.
Cohen told the Associated Press there was no note with her father’s body, but she planned to retrieve his personal belongings later on Thursday to see if he left one inside his lunch box. However, she said the medical examiner told her notes left with several of the bodies all carried a similar message: ”Your dad didn’t suffer.”
Ware was among a dozen miners whose bodies were found at the deepest point of Sago mine on Tuesday night 41 hours after an explosion trapped them underground. The men were huddled together behind a sheet barricade they had set up to try to keep out carbon monoxide gas.
Randal McCloy (26) the only survivor of the tragedy, remained in a coma on Thursday in a Morgantown hospital suffering from dehydration, a collapsed lung and other problems. Doctors said they believe he may have sustained brain damage.
Cohen said her father had the peaceful look of someone who died from carbon monoxide. ”It comforts me to know he didn’t suffer and he wasn’t bruised or crushed. I didn’t need a note. I think I needed to visualise and see him.”
The families of the victims, who were led to believe for three hours on Tuesday night that their loved ones had survived, are considering legal action against the mine. ”It’s the biggest thing that’s going to happen after these miners are put to rest,” Amber Helms, whose father, fire boss Terry Helms, was among those killed, told NBC.
Bells at Sago Baptist Church rang out and politicians proclaimed the rescue a miracle before the truth emerged. Family members reacted with fury, and a mining company executive had to be given a police escort for his protection.
Ben Hatfield, chief executive of mine owner International Coal Group, said the initial mistake resulted from a miscommunication among the rescue crews.
Federal and state investigators were on Thursday at the mine, which has a history of safety violations, seeking a cause for the explosion. – Guardian Unlimited Â