A thorough investigation of the cause and circumstances of this terrible accident will be undertaken by federal and state mine regulatory officials. |
At that location they encountered a rough barricade structure. With 12 remaining miners that had been missing since the Monday explosion. Initial reports indicated multiple survivors, but that turned out to be a miscommunication. |
At that point, there was pure disbelief. |
Clearly we did not get [the message] carried through very well, and that I deeply regret. |
Everyone was talking about it in the parking lots, in the kitchen and everywhere. People that got the information were sharing it because that was the hot rumor. |
Hopes certainly are stretched thin at this point. |
I don't think anyone had a clue how much damage was about to be created. And we truly regret that. |
In the interim, certainly this week, they are being paid and we're meeting with the employees over the weekend to draw up longer-term plans. We're going to do our very level best to take care of our people. |
In the jubilation of the moment, the rules didn't hold. |
In the process of being cautious, we allowed the jubilation to go on longer than it should have. |
It is unfortunate and we are saddened by the fact that the communication problems we experienced last night only add to the terrible tragedy. |
Let's put this in perspective. Who do I tell not to celebrate? I didn't know if there were 12 or 1 (who were alive). |
No barricades or survivors were seen, but there was also no evidence of substantial explosion damage to the installed equipment that was in view. |
No survivors were spotted. It's possible they are barricaded in another area. |
Our focus is not on defending records, our focus is on getting people out of there and that's all we want to focus on at this point. We believe the mine was safe. |