Buckhannon, W.Va. – “Did our dad have to die?” Peggy Cohen wanted to know Tuesday as mine-safety regulators opened an emotional public hearing on questions still surrounding the January disaster that left 12 men dead deep inside the Sago Mine.
Wives and children of the other miners followed her to the microphone, some clutching framed photos of the victims.
“We assure you, Mr. Politicians, that we’re not going to let this rest,” said John Groves, whose brother Jerry Groves was among the victims. “We know in our hearts that this can be corrected. It needs to be done immediately, it needs to be done now. And it’s on you.”
Four months after the blast, officials from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, West Virginia’s Office of Miners’ Health Safety and the company that owns the Sago Mine began testifying about the disaster in a two-day public hearing.
The miners’ families wanted to know whether lightning caused the blast inside the mine that killed one of the crew. They also wanted to know why it took MSHA 11 hours to start the search for the trapped crew.
The testimony Tuesday centered on the mine’s safety record in the year before the explosion and whether state and federal officials had appropriately enforced regulations.
Kevin Stricklin, MSHA’s district manager, defended the federal agency’s enforcement efforts and talked about how MSHA and mine owner International Coal Group had been working to make the mine safer since ICG took over.
State and federal investigators have not determined precisely what caused the explosion and were expected to press ICG officials today to explain why it believes a powerful lightning strike triggered methane gas in a sealed-off section of the mine.
One overriding question from the miners’ relatives came from Cohen, Fred Ware’s daughter: Was the explosion preventable?
The blast occurred as crews were preparing to resume production after the New Year’s holiday. Two miners entered the mine before the crews entered to check for problems.
One of them, fireboss Terry Helms, is believed to have died in the explosion. The second escaped but has told federal and state investigators that his inspection report has been lost.
