12 Found Alive in W.Va. Coal Mine

"It's hard to hear they might not be coming out," said Michelle Mouser, a niece of Terry Helms, a "fire boss" who inspected the mine for problems each day before the production crews entered. "It's real down," she said of the mood of relatives gathered at the church as she sat under a drizzly, overcast sky earlier Tuesday.

"You've got the 12 that went in the buggy and the one who was dropped off at the belt," Mouser told the Associated Press after the body was found. "It was my uncle who gets the belt running."

Except for relatives and friends of Helms, whose relatives told reporters they suspected he was the dead miner since the body was found at his work station, there was jubilation. People at the church sang a familiar hymn, "How Great Thou Art," as other relatives sped to the scene to greet the miners.

"I got scared a lot of times, but I couldn't give up," Charlotte Weaver, wife of miner Jack Weaver, told the AP. "We have an 11-year-old son, and I couldn't go home and tell him Daddy wasn't coming home."

Throughout the day, mine officials moved to speed the advance of the eight-man rescue teams, especially after a 1,300-pound robot equipped with a special camera became bogged down in mud while exploring the mine. The teams pressed through dank five-foot-high tunnels, hastily repairing ventilation systems as they went, but forgoing other repairs.

Hatfield said damage in the mine "resembled" that of a methane explosion. Methane is naturally produced in coal mines and is highly combustible. The "very substantial" explosion occurred in the sealed-off mine near where the dead miner was found.

Although this entrapment was not similar, the joy at the rescue of the 12 miners mirrored the relief 3 1/2 years ago when nine men were brought to the surface, one by one, after being trapped for more than four days at the Quecreek mine near Somerset, Pa. Mining experts credited improved training in helping the miners to save themselves in both the Quecreek and Sago incidents.

At St. Joseph's Hospital, a second-floor wing was cleared in anticipation of the surviving miners' arrival, spokeswoman Lisa Turner said. She said the miners were first being seen by emergency medical workers in a heated tent near the mine's opening. There, oxygen levels were being measured, IVs for hydration were available and blood could be drawn for testing. Turner said the miners probably would be taken first to the church to greet their families if they were stable enough before being taken to the hospital, where, she said, it was likely that they would spend at least the night. The 59-bed hospital has been on high alert.

Over railroad tracks and down a winding road along the Buckhannon River near the mine, miners' family members waited with increasing anxiety, remembering the last time they saw their loved ones.

Sam Luntz, 61, recalled urging his brother-in-law, miner Martin Bennett, 50, to retire. "He was at my house on Christmas Eve, and we talked about retiring. He laughed and said he'll probably work at the mine for the rest of his life," Luntz said.

Despite arthritis and the telltale cough of black lung disease, Bennett would not apply for disability benefits, Luntz said. His brother-in-law "loved his job."

Bennett's son is also a miner, but Luntz said it is unlikely he will return to the dangerous work, "especially if his dad don't come out alive."