Efforts to Contact 2 Miners Get No Response, Officials Say

[Judi Lynn]

Efforts to Contact 2 Miners Get No Response, Officials Say

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 22, 2006
MELVILLE, W.Va., Jan. 21 (AP) - With the search for two missing miners partly blocked by the smoke and intense heat of an underground fire, workers on the surface drilled deep into a mine shaft in an effort to contact the missing men but got no response, officials said Saturday.

A conveyor belt inside the mine caught fire on Thursday evening and the fire might have spread into a coal seam, officials said. Nineteen miners escaped, but two others did not make it to the surface.

"Part of the problem with the fire is we are having roof falls," said Doug Conaway, director of the state's Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training. "The heat from the fire is deteriorating the roof."

Another problem was ventilation; air flow could cause the fire to flare up and spread.
(snip/...)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/national/22mine.html

[NanceGreggs]

1. And thanks to the MSM, who can't resist covering ...

... a story like this, 24/7 for days in a row, the much touted 'Bin Laden tape' story is now old news.

And if Brad and Angelina break up this week -- well, there goes the mining catastrophe coverage ...

[stray cat]

2. It doesn't sound too promising

What a shame.