Were the Mine Deaths Preventable?

May 21, 2006 — -- Jeff Ledford cannot talk about what his brother Paul went though in Kentucky's Darby Mine Number 1 without shedding some tears.

Paul and five co-workers had just started the overnight maintenance shift. At 1 a.m. Saturday morning, there was an explosion. Paul's five co-workers died.

"I just thank God he made it," Ledford said. "He told them all, 'Let's go. We gotta go.' But the rest of them turned back. They couldn't breathe from the dust and smoke."

Paul Ledford kept going, crawling toward the entrance on his hands and knees until he passed out. Rescue workers found him nearest the mine's entrance. Jeff Leford said that if rescuers hadn't found him, Paul would have died with the others.

Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher said he has been spending time with grieving family members, who are still in shock.

"They wanted answers mainly; they wanted to know, you know, how their loved one, their, husband died, what caused the accident, and we were not able to give all the answers there," he said. "We do believe there was an explosion, probably a leak from a concealed area that had been shut down. But they want answers and we're going to work and do everything we can to give them those answers."

The five men died deep inside the mine. Jeff Ledford said there were problems with his brother's rescue breather that was supposed to provide him with an hour's worth of clean air.

"He said his didn't last five minutes," he said.

"We know that at least a couple of them or several of them were wearing" the breathing devices, Fletcher said. "We believe all of them were wearing them, but the investigation will have to tell us that for sure."

Fletcher recently pushed to pass a law in Kentucky that would require those rescue breathers. He said that the miners need to be better trained on how to use them.

"Two things: One, we need to check the devices, make sure they're working, make sure that's adequate for coal miners; and, two, I think we need to make sure we give as much training as possible to these miners," Fletcher said.