Amid all the hype, no wonder the media missed the boat in accurately reporting the number of survivors in the West Virginia mine disaster. The first report regarded the number of coal miners who were alive at that time - 12.
Then, during a three-hour lapse in time - with ambulances arriving rapidly, medical teams already assisting and news media reporting they didn't know what was going on - a report came saying that only one miner remained.
This tells me that during the three-hour lapse, emergency medical procedures were being administered to the 12 miners in frantic hopes that at least one more miner's heart would begin beating again.
It was only after all medical attempts to revive the rescued miners had failed that word was passed that only one miner had survived. Those 12 miners were found near Area No. 1 with previously reported carbon monoxide levels at 400-500 parts per million (which is more than three times the human tolerance level).
Dan Leonard, Grovetown
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