TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) - Rescuers trying to reach 13 trapped miners have successfully drilled a hole into the mine, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin said. Appearing on morning talk shows, Manchin said a drilling crew punched a small hole into the mine and will insert a track-mounted robot equipped with a camera and sensors to measure air quality.
"They've drilled down through," Manchin said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
"We're still hoping for that miracle," he said.
Earlier, officials thought the rescuers should be removed from the mine in case the drilling caused the air to shift, said Ben Hatfield, chief executive officer of mine owner International Coal Group Inc. Crews were drilling the hole to test for poisonous gases and to try to detect signs of life.
"We will push forward as quickly as we can as long as there is a shred of hope that we can get our people out safely," Hatfield said.
"We are not in recovery mode," Gov. Manchin said, "we're in rescue mode." He said the air quality
Rescuers have encountered slightly elevated carbon monoxide levels while moving deeper into the mine, indicating that there had been combustion, Hatfield said.
However, Hatfield did say the air was still breathable at 9,200 feet without a breathing apparatus. Asked at a news conference why trapped miners wouldn't just walk out of the mine if air quality was satisfactory, he said they were trained to barricade themselves in an area with clean air and wait for rescuers if they thought there was danger.
The cause of the explosion hadn't been determined early Tuesday, but a spokeswoman for Gov. Manchin said earlier that it may have been sparked by lightning.
The blast occurred at about 6:40 a.m. Monday, trapping the miners 260 feet below the surface of the Sago Mine, located about 100 miles northeast of Charleston.
Four co-workers tried to reach them immediately after the explosion but stopped because of contaminated air. The blast knocked out the mine's communication equipment, preventing authorities from contacting the miners.
Several hundred family members and friends waited for word on the miners, including Daniel Merideth, the son-in-law of trapped miner Alby Martin Bennett, who had planned to retire this year.
"Every day he would come home and pray for who was going in," said Merideth. "Right now he is probably in there witnessing to people. He would be organizing and praying."
Teams had initially planned to begin drilling Monday night, but couldn't start until early Tuesday because they had to do some grading work in the spot determined to be the best location.
The crews took their time in setting up the drill because it was "critical that the start of this be done very accurately," Gene Kitts, a senior vice president for mine owner International Coal Group Inc., said.
The rescue teams entered the mine more than 11 hours after the blast. They were kept out of the mine for most of the day because of dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide—a byproduct of combustion.
The miners carry 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 at the Sago Baptist Church. They do not carry oxygen tanks, he said.
Kitts 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," 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," Kitts said.
Manchin met with about 200 relatives and co-workers who gathered near the mining complex.
"We believe in miracles in West Virginia," he said. "I haven't given up hope."
Coal mine explosions are typically caused by buildups of naturally occurring methane gas, and the danger increases in the winter months, when the barometric pressure can release the odorless, colorless and highly flammable gas.
The mine had been idle on Saturday and Sunday and two groups of miners were to resume production on Monday. A fire boss went into the mine before the first group entered the mine at 5:51 a.m. and declared it was safe.
"That just adds to the mystery of what happened when the production crew went underground," Kitts had said Monday.
The second group of miners entered at 6:30 a.m., just before power went out in the mine. The second group withdrew.
ICG acquired the Sago Mine (pronounced SAY-goh) last March when it bought Anker West Virginia Mining Co., which had been in bankruptcy. The Sago Mine had annual production of about 800,000 tons of coal, the company said.
Federal inspectors cited the mine for 46 alleged violations of federal mine health and safety rules during an 11-week review that ended Dec. 22, according to records.
The more serious alleged violations, resulting in proposed penalties of at least $250 each, involved steps for safeguarding against roof falls, and the mine's plan to control methane and breathable dust. The mine received 208 citations from MSHA during 2005, up from 68 citations in 2004.
The state Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training issued 144 notices of violation against the mine in 2005, up from 74 the year before.
Kitts said safety at the mine has improved dramatically since ICG took over and the company is 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."
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AP writer Vicki Smith in Tallmansville and Lawrence Messina in Charleston contributed to this story.
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