I was watching CNN last night about 10:45 as they had people running around hysterically saying "12 ALIVE, 12 ALIVE!" Then one guy came over to Anderson Cooper bawling his eyes out and told him they just got word that there are 12 men alive inside the mine. I felt silly, but I was crying too. It was so great they were all safe.
It was euphoria, with everyone crying and they rang the church bells and people running towards the church and neighbors coming to celebrate.
They were also told they were bringing the miners to the church to be reunited with their families. Most were speculating that maybe they would need medical attention not available at their make-shift triage center. So the first one was taken by ambulance and was in critical condition at the local hospital. They stabilized him and transported him by ambulance to the bigger University Hospital. So then the long wait..... We were waiting up to see them and hear their stories. So a little after 2 am or so we watched as the neighbor who had gotten her 2 children out of bed to go be a part of the celebration ran out to Anderson Cooper again and told him this unbelievable news that they are all dead except for the one they took to the hospital. She said the Coal Co. Exec. announced it to an angry, horrified crowd. Boy this guy must've feared for his own life at that time. You could see family members coming out crying and some looked angry, but you could tell they were in shock somewhat, that they had just had the air let out of their balloons. It was horrible to even watch! Then the Coal Exec. had a press conference explaining what led to this false information. He said the intial report from the rescuers with the miners was interpreted wrong. A short time after that they were getting med. supplies, etc to take to them and they received the clarification announcement on mining communication systems that there were no survivors. They were all devastated and knew at that time what chaos that was caused. THEY had never made the announcement to the public, it was from someone with a scanner or something plugging in to the cell phone conversations or something, they just dont know or arent saying where it was leaked from. But NO ONE ever confirmed the "12 Alive". The Governor himself went to the mine to confirm it and was there and found out it was in fact not confirmed and not true. He had been at the church with the others when this "news" came of them being alive and was caught up in the celebration. So the Governor and the Exec's decided they had to confirm the deaths 100% before they went to tell the families anymore false information. They sent the new team of rested rescuers to confirm that they were all deceased. So then they had to go tell the families. That is the explanation for the time it took, plus I am sure they knew they were about to break so many hearts and how do you prepare to do that. It was a horrible horrible predicament they had been put in and it is not the fault of the Coal Co. that they info was spred like wildfire from an undetermined source. It is their fault for opening a mine that was unsafe, that had already been shut down once for this reason.
My heart goes out to these families who were put through the worst possible torture I can imagine. May they rest in peace! And may the one who is still alive, live to tell their story and live his life to the fullest.
