Only one of the 13 United States coal miners trapped for 41 hours underground has survived, the company which owns the mine said on Wednesday, hours after it was announced that 12 men had survived. ”The initial report … proved to be a miscommunication,” International Coal Group president and chief executive Ben Hatfield told reporters.
Rescue workers struggled on Tuesday to reach 13 miners trapped 78m below ground in a mine explosion that may have been sparked by lightning — an effort delayed for almost 12 hours because of accumulations of dangerous gases. The condition of the miners was not immediately known.