That's why the first shred of upbeat information that the men were alive - tragically false, as it turned out - spread like 'wildfire' from workers around the rescue team to their friends and families huddled in a church, mine officials said Wednesday.
'They were clinging to hope. ... They needed good information,' said Ed Hatfield, president of International Coal Group (ICG), which runs the Sago mine where an explosion Monday set off the tragedy.
Hatfield had the tough job Wednesday afternoon of explaining why family members were first told that 12 miners had survived, and later got the stomach-wrenching truth that all but one man, 27-year-old Randal McCloy, had died.
Although Hatfield didn't mention it, accidents in the rugged, coal-streaked Appalachian Mountains of West Virginian don't happen without the plain-speaking locals thinking back to another, happier outcome: the Quecreek Mine rescue.
In that near-tragedy in neighbouring Pennsylvania in 2002, families waited for three days to see nine miners emerge the earth, escaping rapidly rising waters underground.
At the Tallmansville mine, carbon monoxide had infiltrated the main shaft after an explosion Monday from behind a sealed chamber in the mine. But the community still held out hope, in the Quecreek tradition.
At least 12 of the 13 miners had crept into a chamber, built a 'flimsy' barricade and pulled across a special 'curtain to secure a safe breathing environment', Hatfield said. They also had mandatory but limited personal oxygen and breathing equipment.
A 13th body was found by mid Tuesday evening, lying alone near the cart. A special code arrangement designed to prevent just the sort of leaked information that later happened worked in this case, Hatfield said.
Mine officials had also warned rescue workers against using cell phones to pass unvetted information from the search to families.
'In order to doubly protect against faulty information, rescue teams had coded terminology,' Hatfield said. 'That system worked with the first body. There was no release of the information until we went to the family and told them.'
But as the evening wore on and people became more desperate, rescue workers laboured harder in the shaft with breathing masks, and somehow, it got 'miscommunicated' that 12 were alive. That was about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, when the searchers were drawn to the huddled miners' bodies by 'moans', Hatfield said.
At the control centre where state mine and company officials were coordinating the rescue efforts, a message about 'alive' was heard, possibly relayed by workers at the mine portal from rescue workers deep within the mine whose speech was muffled by breathing masks.
The news 'alive' electrified the command centre, witnesses told reporters. Thirteen ambulances were ordered to the portal.
'It was such an uproar of joy that the people communicating on the phone system asked everyone not directly associated to leave,' said Gene Kitts, a company senior vice president. 'Everyone dispersed through the mine office and through the parking lot, with all sorts of joyful expressions.'
Similar jubilation soon erupted at the nearby church where families waited, the result of a mysteriously communicated message that 12 were 'alive!'
'We was jumpin' and huggin' each other and singin' hymns,' McCloy's father-in-law told CNN in his mountain drawl.
No one has yet identified how the information leaked through to the families - an issue that will be part of a federal investigation.
Back in the control centre, another 45 minutes passed before officials learnt the truth - when rescue workers emerged with Malory and said that only one had survived. <!--page-->
There was 'pure disbelief' in the command centre, Kitt said. 'The communicator asked several times ... for confirmation.'
Hatfield conceded that the company then made a huge error. They waited another two hours to tell the families.
'The company and state officials did not think it was prudent to issue a statement without confirmation of identity of known survivors or the deceased,' Hatfield said. 'In the process of being cautious we allowed the jubilation to go on longer than we should have.'
He apologized that the communications problems 'only added to a terrible tragedy'.
As the hours wore on at the church, the mood became quiet for lack of more news or sight of loved ones.
'We waited and waited three and a half hours,' one community member said.
Hatfield finally headed over about 3 a.m. Wednesday bearing the truth to angry relatives inside the church, with an escort of state troopers.
'People were screaming, 'You're a liar',' a witness said. 'There were four-letter words ... people saying 'hypocrites' and 'liars',' one witness told CNN.
An investigation into the cause of the explosion was launched Wednesday by federal, state and company officials. In addition, federal officials will probe how the company relayed the emergency information to family members.
According to federal officials, the Sago mine's safety records deteriorated in the last year. In 2005 it received 208 citations from the agency for violations. In 2004 there had only been 68.
Hatfield said that safety standards had been improved since ICG bought the mine in November.
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