Breaking News: 11 of the 12 W. Virginia Miners Dead

Initial news reports were wrong:

TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - Family members learned early Wednesday that 11 of the 12 coal miners who were initially thought to have survived an explosion in a coal mine have died.

Families learned of the deaths from mine officials more than three hours after Gov. Joe Manchin said he had been told 12 of the miners survived the disaster. The sole survivor of the disaster was hospitalized, a doctor said.

I can't even imagine what the families are going through right now.

How can the mining company and/or local government officials let the wrong information float out there for more than three hours? If they weren't sure how many survived, why didn't someone make a public statement that the information wasn't confirmed?

Update:

I'm watching Governor Joe Manchin in a press conference on CNN. 12 of the 13 miners trapped were found dead with the lone survivor in critical condition.

His communications director claims the press was told they are hearing the same reports the press was hearing but that the information wasn't confirmed and the governor was on his way to the mining site.

Governor Manchin emphasizes the wrong information was not intentional.

The newswires and bloggers are just catching up with the devastating development. The earliest post I can find anywhere about it is on blogcritics.org.

Theage.com reports that the families learned of the deaths from mine officials who later told the press that only one miner, Randal McCloy, survived and was in critical condition. The company chief executive reportedly said, "there had been a lack of communication, that what we were told was wrong and that only one survived." There were also reports of mayhem erupting after the families found out, with reports of at least one fight and the paramedics being called.

More roundup from mediabistro.org on how the networks caught up with the devastating news.

Update II:

Uggabugga recounts the emotional rollercoaster as reported live by Nightline on the West Coast.

WaPo files its report. The local pastor's words summed it up best: "the bottom dropped out of their joy".

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