Feds Try to Reassure Miners on Air Packs

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. -- Federal regulators are scrambling to reassure the nation's 42,000 coal miners that the air packs they rely on in an emergency will work, even though the sole survivor of the Sago Mine disaster says four of his crew's devices malfunctioned.

Congressmen and some of the Sago victims' relatives, meanwhile, are calling on government to upgrade air packs and require the use of tracking devices and communication systems to make sure West Virginia's heartache is never repeated.

"We know we need the coal," said Wanda Groves, mother of fallen miner Jerry Groves. "We're going to have to have mines. But we want them to be safe."

The revelation about malfunctioning air packs came from Sago survivor Randal McCloy Jr. in a letter delivered to his co-workers' families and obtained by The Associated Press.

The air packs _ referred to in the letter as "rescuers" _ are intended to give each miner about an hour's worth of oxygen while they escape or find a pocket of clean air. McCloy said at least four of the devices did not function, forcing the trapped men to share as they awaited a rescue that came too late.

"His heart-wrenching account of the last hours of his co-workers' lives should spur this Congress to act on our legislation," said Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va.

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., noted that Congress needed only 40 days to pass a bill after Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl.

"It's been almost 4 months since the Sago mine disaster and there has been no action," he said.

Mine owner International Coal Group Inc. said federal investigators tested the miners' air packs _ also known as self-contained self-rescue devices, or SCSRs _ and found no evidence any of them malfunctioned.

Dirk Fillpot, spokesman with the Mine Safety and Health Administration, confirmed that the agency and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health examined all the air packs recovered from the mine. Initial tests found that the devices that had been activated would have functioned properly, he said.

However, MSHA will look into whether the Sago miners had been adequately trained to use them, he said.

The Jan. 2 blast killed one miner, then spread carbon monoxide that slowly asphyxiated 11 other men 260 feet below ground.