An erroneous exchange between EMTs as rescuers revealed they had found the last of the 13 miners trapped in a West Virginia coal mine morphed at lightning speed into the “miracle” message that 12 were alive, emergency-call transcripts show.
“They did find them and they’re all OK, I guess, so, I think we might be transporting them,” radioed one EMT to another at 11:48 p.m. Tuesday, just three minutes after the rescue crew radioed to the surface.
Six minutes later, another EMT exchange went as follows:
Voice 1: “And what am I telling them?”
Voice 2: “Twelve, and they’re bringing them out.”
Voice 1: “And they’re all alive?”
Voice 2: “Uh, as far as I know.”
The radio conversations underscore how quickly the unconfirmed report from the mine leaked to the surface and spread.
Ultimately, the message got to friends and relatives of the trapped men, leading the townsfolk to celebrate what they believed to be the greatest miracle of all – that 12 of their loved ones were alive. But the report was wrong – only one had survived – and for three long hours, the town sang hymns, danced and rang church bells, only to have their hopes crushed when the truth finally came out.
For the past three days, the inhabitants of the tiny Appalachian town of Tallmansville have slowly come to terms with the horrible truth. Today, wakes for miners Jesse Jones, 44, Jerry Groves, 57, and David Lewis, 28, are planned. Their funerals are set for tomorrow.
A modicum of hope has been reserved for the lone survivor, Randal McCloy Jr., 26, who was blinking his eyes and showing other hopeful signs yesterday surrounded by his family at a Pittsburgh hospital.
“I know he knows when I’m there, because when I’m there he gets excited,” said his wife, Anna McCloy, who played Metallica CDs by his bedside in the hopes of making him feel at home.
Meanwhile, federal investigators swarmed the coal mine yesterday, supervising the drilling of ventilation holes to allow safe inspections of the tunnel where the miners huddled in their final hours. The Mine Safety and Health Administration has appointed an eight-person team to investigate Monday’s blast.
In addition to investigating possible causes, including lightning that may have ignited naturally occurring methane or coal dust, MSHA said the probe also would look into the mistaken communication from rescue teams.