West Virginia Mine Rescue Hits 'Set Back' in Search for Miners

MONTCOAL, W.Va., April 8, 2010 — -- Crews trying to reach four miners believed to be trapped deep in the Upper Big Branch mine were pulled back after the first rescue attempt in days hit a 'set back.'

Federal safety official Kevin Stricklin said today that air samples taken as the miners descended detected an explosive mix of elements in the atmosphere.

"We think they are in danger and that's the whole intent of evacuating them from the mine," Stricklin said at a news conference.

He said tests of the air through holes bored into the mountain detected a volatile combination of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane that could erupt into lethal blast similar to the one that killed 25 miners on Monday.

The four rescue teams, made up of a total of 32 people, entered the mine around 5 a.m. to try and reach the airtight chambers inside the mine, which are stocked with oxygen, food and water, and where it is hoped, the missing miners are located.

They got within 1,000 feet of the first rescue chamber before they were forced to turn back.

"If they're alive, they're in that chamber," West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin said today.

Safety experts have said there is enough oxygen stored in rescue chambers for the miners to live for four days if they survived the initial blast and resulting noxious gasses.

Stricklin said it would take at least another 12 hours to ventilate the mine shaft well enough to make it safe for the search teams.

"It's like blowing air into a pop bottle," he said of the efforts to vent the mine. "There's nowhere for the toxic fumes to go."

Manchin reiterated that the families of the miners and the community are clinging to a "sliver of hope."

The rescue crews did not make it far enough into the mine today to reach the bodies of the 14 miners known to have been killed in the blast.

"As much as the families want the bodies out, and I respect, that we have to respect the health and safety of hte rescuers underground," Stricklin said.

Immediately after the disaster, rescue crews rushed into the mine, but were quickly forced to retreat because of the toxic conditions.

Mine Explosion: Distraught Families Wait in Anguish for News

While the families of the missing men wait in agony, clinging to any shred of hope they can muster, the community remains stunned and angry about the loss of the rest.

Timmy Davis Jr. lost his father and two cousins in the explosion.

"He would tell us sometimes about how dangerous it was, but it didn't bother him," Davis said of his father, Timmy "Big Tim" Davis Sr.

"He just loved his job," he told "Good Morning America" Wednesday. "That's where he liked being at. If he made it out, he'd go back tomorrow."

Davis said his cousins, Cory Davis and Josh Napper, were "just good kids, trying to make a living."

Davis had driven a coal truck at the mine. But he was laid off, he said, the day of the explosion. Now, he's considering leaving his home state and starting a new life away from the mines that have employed his family for generations.

Stanley Stewart, who was about 300 feet underground starting his shift when the explosion hit, described it as "hurricane-force winds." The blast could be felt for miles.

"I told my friends, 'Take your time, so you don't fall.' I was trying not to panic, panic was setting in," he said. "I knew it was bad."

Once out, Stewart said, he immediately volunteered to go back in to pull his friends out but was not allowed to make the rescue attempt.

"Some of the company personnel found some people that were killed," he said, crying. "Some of those were my buddies."

Nearly everyone in the community surrounding Massey Energy Co.'s Upper Big Branch mine near Whitesville, W.Va., has been affected by the worst mine disaster in more than 25 years.

"I've never seen anything like it," Manchin told "Good Morning America" Tuesday.

"I don't understand why it had to happen," Janice Florence told "World News With Diane Sawyer." "I thought they had things like alarm systems and things that would go off in the mines.

"They need to be safe," she said. "I just hope they get to the bottom of this."

Tight-Knit Community Bonded in Anguish

President Obama Tuesday asked for prayers for the men killed, their families and the rescue workers trying to find the miners still missing.

"May they rest in peace and may their families find comfort in the hard days ahead," he said from the East Room of the White House before an Easter prayer breakfast.

Obama reiterated his offer to the West Virginia governor that "the federal government stands ready to offer any assistance that is needed."

With the vast improvements made in terms of mine safety, technology and education, an explosion of this proportion was likely the result of a perfect storm of events, according to Mike Rohaly, a retired mine engineer who spent about 15 years of his 35-year career underground.

"In this day and age this kind of mine disaster is unheard of," Rohaly said. "A lot of bad things have to happen at the same time, in my opinion."

While the tight-knit community is now bonded in shared anguish and grief, Rohaly said he'd expect a range of emotions as friends and family learn more about the accident.

"I'm sure the response will vary all over the board with the miners and their families," Rohaly said. "Some of them will go right back to work, some of them will not have anything to do with mining and move, do whatever they can to get away from it."

Richard Scarbro, whose friend Deward Scott was killed in the blast as he was leaving the mine at the end of his shift, said "there's no answer."

"We got loved ones to take care of," he said. "Families without fathers, families without grandfathers ... some children not being took care of."

A Facebook page that sprung up shortly after the blast and quickly grew to tens of thousands of members listed condolences, prayers and outrage at mine safety.

"My father was a coal miner in WV in the 1930s," one poster wrote. "He told me of running out of a coal mine as fine, silty dust trailed behind him. It appears mining is NO safer now than it was then!"

ABC News' David Muir, Cleopatra Andreadis, Desiree Adib, Lee Ferran, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.