[dr911]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10682163/?gt1=7538Hello All,


Please join me in Hope & Prayer for the miners & their families trapped in Tallmanville, W. Va.

Updated: 6:13 p.m. ET Jan. 3, 2006
TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - Rescuers pushed deeper into a mineshaft in a desperate search for 13 trapped coal miners Tuesday, but the prospects of finding anyone alive appeared bleak after holes drilled into the ground yielded deadly levels of carbon monoxide and no signs of life.

“With each hour that passes, the likelihood of a successful outcome diminishes,” said Ben Hatfield, chief executive of mine owner International Coal Group Inc.

By early evening, Hatfield said rescuers were three to five hours from reaching where the miners were last located in the Sago Mine, about 100 miles northeast of Charleston.

“We are clearly in the situation where we need a miracle,” Hatfield said. “But miracles happen.”

The miners were believed to be at the end of a 13,000-foot long shaft. Efforts to reach the men had been called off earlier Tuesday while workers drilled a hole into the mine to test air quality.

Me heart & prayers are with the miners & their families.

[teengeekgrrl]

Believe me, I have.

The morning of WVU's Sugar Bowl victory too... unbelievable...

[bordercollie]

We are no stranger to mining disasters here in the UK - but not in recent times since most of the coal mines have been closed down. I sincerely hope that all the men are rescued safely. My thoughts are with them and their families.

[teengeekgrrl]

Breaking news... the Red Cross said that they found one body now........

[Litehawk]

ahh i heard that on the radio this morning. terrible.

[SIR****TMG]

Praying for them all....................

[poochee]

My heart goes out to them and their families. So sad.

[iltos]

almost 9 on the west coast....cnn is reporting one has died, but 12 have been found alive

Originally Posted by iltos

almost 9 on the west coast....cnn is reporting one has died, but 12 have been found alive

Awesome!!!!

[angelize56]

Sad sad news everyone....11 of the miners reported alive....did die! So terribly tragic! Those poor families that had their hopes dashed like that!

Families Say 11 of 12 W.Va. Miners Dead

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/mine_expl...kxBHNlYwN0bQ--

[poochee]

So sad.

[treespirit]

Terrible news

[bordercollie]

To have your hopes raised and then dashed must be really awful. My thoughts are with the families of those poor men.

[belithrawien]

I have just read the news, and am in tears for these families. I grew up in northern Ontario, where the primary trade was ( possibly still is ) mining. My father worked underground for 20 years, and every time a report came on of an elevator shaft collapse, or trapped workers, we were frozen in terror waiting for names. This experience is palpable to me, and I am greived for these people. I pray God sends them comfort in their time of darkness.

[angelize56]

This brings you to tears....I would treasure that note for the rest of my life....

Pray for Randal to recover!

January 06, 2006

'I just went to sleep. I love you,' wrote victim of US mining disaster

By Sam Knight and agencies

Trapped and lying in darkness with 11 fellow miners, one of the men who died in the West Virginia mining disaster wrote a note telling his family that death came gently, it emerged last night.

"Tell all I see them on the other side. It wasn’t bad. I just went to sleep. I love you," wrote Martin Toler Jr., a 51-year-old from the small town of Tallmansville, who had worked as a coal miner since his teens.

Toler's farewell, scrawled unevenly in mis-shapen capital letters, was one several notes believed to have been written by the miners, who barricaded themselves into a corner of the Sago Mine in West Virginia after an explosion blocked their route to surface on January 2.

Toler's note, signed "JR", was given to Tom Toler, his brother, when he was asked to identify the miner's body in the impromptu morgue set up in a defunct elementary school. "It just shook me up when they gave it to me," said Mr Toler. "I took it to mean that it was written in the final stages."

Interviewed on CNN, Toler's nephew, Randy Toler, said: "I think he wanted to set our minds at ease, that he didn’t suffer, and I just think that God gave him peace at the end."

Mr Toler said that his uncle, "a very jolly, happy person", had probably handed his pen to the other miners so that they could also write notes to their families.

Ben Hatfield, the chief executive of International Coal Group Inc. which owns the mine, said rescuers had found several notes in the alcove two miles from the mine entrance where the men were found.

As families of the dead men searched for the other notes - one relative said as many as four may exist - doctors treating Mr McCloy said that the 26-year-old, who had worked in the Sago mine for 18 months before the disaster, had been transferred to a hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to begin hyperbaric oxygen treatment.

The treatment aims to reduce carbon monoxide levels in the blood, restore oxygen levels and help fight infections. But doctors told reporters that Mr McCloy's condition had not improved as much as they had hoped and that he may have suffered brain damage. "Certainly Mr. McCloy is going to have a tough course," said Dr. John Prescott. "We just don’t know at this point how things will turn out."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...973460,00.html