Robot to Help Rescue Trapped Miners

Rescuers trying to reach 13 miners trapped in a US coal mine for almost 24 hours were today preparing to use a robotic device to try and speed up the rescue operation.

The miners are thought to have become trapped around 260 feet underground following an explosion at 6.40am local time (1140 GMT) yesterday at the Sago mine in West Virginia.

No contact has been made and no signs of life detected so far from the miners, who are thought to be trapped at the end of an angled shaft around two miles from the mine's entrance.

It is thought that the miners may have barricaded themselves in against the threat of dangerous gases - which may have caused the blast - and it is hoped they are alive and waiting for help. Officials said there was no evidence so far of roof-falls.

Mine officials told reporters today that a robotic device will be put into the mine after a rescue team on the surface completes drilling a hole down into the tunnel where the miners are thought to be. A camera will be placed through the hole to look for signs of life.

The robot, which also carries camera equipment, is able to assess what gases might be in the area and officials hope this will then confirm that it is safe for rescue teams to get closer to the trapped miners.

Rescuers edging towards the accident area on foot have been hampered by fears about contaminated air. The rescue teams could not enter the mine until more than 11 hours after the blast because of dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide.

Coal mining explosions are often caused by naturally occurring methane gas, which could have built up at the Sago mine during the festive break. The trapped miners were working on the first shift since the Christmas holidays.

The miners have individual air purifying systems that would give them up to seven hours of clean air, said Tim McGee, who works at the mine and was among those waiting for news at the nearby Sago Baptist Church. They do not carry oxygen tanks, he said.

The blast knocked out the mine's communication equipment, preventing authorities from contacting the trapped miners.

Several hundred family members and friends were waiting on the surface for news, including Daniel Merideth, the son-in-law of trapped miner Alby Martin Bennett, who had planned to retire this year.

Mr Merideth said: "Every day he would come home and pray for who was going in. Right now he is probably ... organising and praying."

Officials said today that the rescuers - there are around 90 rescuers on site - were reporting that the mine was still in "good shape" despite the blast.

Gene Kitts, a senior vice president for mine owner International Coal Group Inc, said the miners each had between 3 and 30 years experience and are trained to try to tap on roots, waterlines, anything possible, to alert rescuers of their location.

"This is not a rookie crew underground," Mr Kitts said. "So we're just trusting that their training and their mining instincts have kicked in immediately ... We will expect to be there quick enough so that food, water, those sorts of issues probably will not come into play."

Last night, the state governor, Joe Manchin, met with around 200 relatives and co-workers who gathered near the mining complex. "We believe in miracles in West Virginia," he told the relatives. "I haven't given up hope."

Lara Ramsburg, a spokeswoman for the governor, said the blast may have been sparked by lightning from severe thunderstorms. But Roger Nicholson, ICG's general counsel, said that it was not clear what caused the blast and that there was no indication it was methane-related.

ICG acquired the Sago Mine last March when it bought Anker West Virginia Mining Co, which had been in bankruptcy.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that the mine had been cited for 46 alleged violations of federal safety regulations during an 11-week review that ended on December 22.

Among the more serious alleged violations were the mine's protections against roof collapses and controls for methane gas. It received 185 citations from the federal regulatory agency during 2005, up from 68 in 2004.

Mr Kitts said safety at the mine in Upshur County had improved dramatically since ICG took over and the company was working closely with regulatory agencies to make further improvements.

"We think that we are operating a safe mine," he said. "We have no real clue about what triggered this explosion or what happened today."