The 11 o'clock NEWS here showed that 1 person has already been found. But he was dead. So the others coming out alive isn't looking to promising at the moment.
They can't use machinery either as they are not sure if it will explode or not and have no clue if there is pockets of gas/chemicals. So it is all by hand.
This is saddening for the families that have lost loved ones. :(
It wasn't just that the information was reported incorrectly by a "source" in the company. The real problem was that the news outlets rushed to print the unverified information from this source without double-checking. They all wanted to be the first to break the story; apparently, that is now more important than getting the facts right.
The worst part is that if the media had waited for twenty more minutes, they would have been able to report the correct information. Not to be insensitive, but while this is a story that much of the public is interested in (with our neverending thirst for gruesome news stories), it would make no difference if this story had been reported a few minutes later. 99.99% of national media readers, listeners, and viewers are not directly affected by this story at all, and so it is not truly time-sensitive. The rush was pure selfishness on the part of the media, as each wanted to be the first to "scoop" the story.
By the way, the Wikipedia article on the incident was edited to include information that 12 miners had survived at 2:48 am. At 2:55, it was changed to read that only one had survived. That's seven minutes.
USA Today, on the other hand, printed and distributed the erroneous headline to millions of readers across the US. Hmm...
I think I'll stick to Wikipedia. ___________________ Scourge of the Muffins
Damn, I just watched that the message was screwed up about the survivors.
The victims familes were given an apology for the misinformation, but the victims familes still cried out for justice.
There is not much the mining company can do really. The miners know the risks, and cave-ins and explosions are bound to happen sooner or later. Even with safety precautions. So yeah.
But it is indeed saddening that mine accidents are still happening even though technology is 1000 times more advanced then it was 200 years ago. But then again there is fires that are underground in coal country that have been burning for 100+ years.
