BUCKHANNON, W.Va., May 1 (UPI) -- An inquiry is set to look into the deadly explosion at West Virginia's Sago Mine, where 11 men died trapped underground and one was killed in the blast.
A joint federal and state hearing will attempt to find some answers on what set off the explosion, why the trapped miners thought some respirators were inoperable and why a dispatcher ignored a warning about high carbon monoxide levels 20 minutes before the January blast. The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday at West Virginia Wesleyan College.
International Coal Group, which owns the mine, blames the explosion on a lightning strike. While there was a strike nearby at the same time, no one has determined how the electrical charge traveled 1.5 miles and then 13,000 feet underground to a sealed portion of the mine, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Dispatcher Bob Chisholm told investigators that he believed the carbon monoxide warning was a false alarm, the Charleston, W. Va., Gazette reported. Ironically, investigators say the warning may have been irrelevant to the explosion, but it is possible that no one would have died if the mine had been evacuated.
