Hopes Fade for Trapped Miners As Air Quality Falls

Hopes for the safe return of 13 coal miners, trapped underground in West Virginia after an explosion, began to fade yesterday after reports of toxic levels of carbon monoxide in the mine.

As rescue teams drilled more than 3,000 metres (10,000 ft) into the mine in search of survivors, a mining company executive said the air quality in the mine presented a danger to the trapped workers.

Carbon-monoxide levels were 1,300 parts per million yesterday morning, more than three times the safe breathable maximum of 400 parts per million.

"That's not an environment that can sustain life," Ben Hatfield, chief executive of the International Coal Group Inc, which owns the Sago Mine, near Tallmansville. "We are very discouraged by the results of this test." He said crews had spent 10 minutes pounding on steel pipes running through the section of the mine where the workers were believed to be trapped, but there was no response. But he said it was possible they had barricaded themselves in a portion of the mine with oxygen.

The miners were trapped after an explosion when they arrived for work early Monday morning in the deepest section of the mine. The mine suffered an increase in reports of safety violations according to records at the mine safety and health administration, with 205 reports last year compared with 68 in 2004.