Painfull mistake...

[Hagar]

With this information, they should never have let the media make the families believe their loved ones were ok. It would have been better to tell them the truth then to let them believe everything was ok before telling them the truth :-/

I'm usually the first to criticise the media but to be fair to the reporters on the scene they were doing their job. They wouldn't wait for official confirmation of what the families had been told. I heard the Governor of West Virginia who was there with the relatives when they first got the news saying on the radio that he was caught up in the jubilation himself & went to the mine for confirmation. Before that confirmation came through the news had already gone around the world. It must have been a slow news day or I would probably never have heard about these events on the other side of the Atlantic.

I think this was simply an unfortunate tragedy caused by bad communications with the rescue team. Everyone was hoping for a miracle but this time it didn't come off.

[legoalex2000]

The newspapers here read:::

"MINORS SAVED BY MIRACLE".

i hope you mean 'miners', cause those be the little'uns in the tunnel then

saddening news thoguh, stupid reporters. cant eep their mouth shut.

and the chicago tribune thing... well, that explains itself.

Ramos

[Craig.]

I think this was simply an unfortunate tragedy caused by bad communications with the rescue team. Everyone was hoping for a miracle but this time it didn't come off.

It wasn't even really the rescue team to blame, like I said, a site foreman listening in on one of the radios thought he heard they were alive or something simmilar, he rushed off to break the news despite hearing the communication wrong. The other version is that it was a chinese whispers type effect. by the time the communication got to the church and families it had gone from, "we have found the bodies and checking for signs of life" to "we have found them, alive".

[Hagar]

It wasn't even really the rescue team to blame,

I'm not blaming anybody, least of all the rescue team. Unfortunately they might be included in the blame & sued for damages along with anyone else in the firing line. Who would be a rescuer these days?

[C]

a site foreman listening in on one of the radios thought he heard they were alive or something simmilar, he rushed off to break the news despite hearing the communication wrong.

Generally that's the kind of thing that'll happen in these situation... Sad...

[bbstackerf]

In the end I think it's not about the error though it did cause more grief. I think thoughts about this should be more focused on compassion for the families lost love one and the heartache they will face. Everyone knows the media sucks, but thats a given. They pull crap like this all the time - it's in their job description. The deaths of the miners means someones father son or brother will not be there at the table next Thanksgiving or Christmas or wont be there at a birthday.... I went through this recently and it's hell. It's an old worn out headline - media people f**king up. But it's a new and sad story to the hearts of these families.

My 2 pennies...

Keni

[Craig.]

I'm not blaming anybody, least of all the rescue team. Unfortunately they might be included in the blame & sued for damages along with anyone else in the firing line. Who would be a rescuer these days?

I didn't mean to suggest you were.

[bbstackerf]

They just had a spot on the news about this. Right now because of the horrible pain caused by the erroneous report the families are focused in on how 3 hours could have elapsed from the first report of survivors. But I don't think any "criminal" balme can or will be put on the rescuers or anyone else involved in the reporting. I think when the dust settles it will wind up being another class action suit filed on behalf of the families for safety violations concerning the cause of the explosion that trigered this event. The mining company and no one individual will be blamed. The company will try to blame negligence on the part of the miners.

Keni

[Katahu]

With this information, they should never have let the media make the families believe their loved ones were ok. It would have been better to tell them the truth then to let them believe everything was ok before telling them the truth :-/

Imagine yourself in my shoes. Let me remind you that half of my job involves talking to patients on many levels.

Imagine a 90-year-old lady slowly inching her way with here walking cane towards the front window. She shows you her ID, her paper prescription, Tricare card, and other things. She then tells you that she drove with her grown son from a home that is about 140 miles away and had to spend $50 on gas. You look at the prescription and you notice that your pharmacy doesn't stock the medication and you aren't allowed to substitute without the doc [who is probably living even further away] writing a new script for a substitute.

Can you tell that [straight out, without hesitation and without emotion] to the 90-year-old lady who drove 140 miles? And that's just one kind of patient to deal with.

What I'm trying to say is that it's impossible for those officials of the lost miners to just simply tell the relatives their loved ones are dead without SEVERELY breaking the hearts of those relatives and the hearts of the children whom the lost souls have left behind.

Whether the officials waited or not, either way, hearts will break at the highest level.

[BFMF]

Imagine yourself in my shoes. Let me remind you that half of my job involves talking to patients on many levels.

Imagine a 90-year-old lady slowly inching her way with here walking cane towards the front window. She shows you her ID, her paper prescription, Tricare card, and other things. She then tells you that she drove with her grown son from a home that is about 140 miles away and had to spend $50 on gas. You look at the prescription and you notice that your pharmacy doesn't stock the medication and you aren't allowed to substitute without the doc [who is probably living even further away] writing a new script for a substitute.

Can you tell that [straight out, without hesitation and without emotion] to the 90-year-old lady who drove 140 miles? And that's just one kind of patient to deal with.

What I'm trying to say is that it's impossible for those officials of the lost miners to just simply tell the relatives their loved ones are dead without SEVERELY breaking the hearts of those relatives and the hearts of the children whom the lost souls have left behind.

Whether the officials waited or not, either way, hearts will break at the highest level.

Keep in mind, I didn't say how to tell them. Obviously, someone would need to be sensitive when breaking devestating news to someone in situations like that.

I've never had anything that bad happen to anyone close to me, so i'm only voicing my opinion. Don't get me wrong, i'm not even beggining to compare my family to the victims in the mine back east, but for example, there have been a couple instances where family members have been in auto accidents that could have been serious. Even if someone had been killed, I wouldn't have wanted to be told they were alright, and then told they had all been killed. I would rather be told the truth instead of anything that wasn't unconfirmed.

See what I mean?

[Marlin]

Yes I totally agree with everyone here that this is very tragic. Indeed.

Those people that were around the command center were told not to use there cell phones and let the CEO do his job as the spokesman.

I personally think that whom ever used there phone to pass along unconfermed information should be sued and possibly put in jail for there actions.

The media (all of them) were disgracefull throughout the whole ordeal. Weather or not they were to blame.

The person, persons, company or not who didn't listen to the no phone rule needs to suffer the wrath of what they, she or he did. If not this kind of thing will continue to happen.

Damn shame

[Katahu]

Yes I totally agree with everyone here that this is very tragic. Indeed.

Those people that were around the command center were told not to use there cell phones and let the CEO do his job as the spokesman.

I personally think that whom ever used there phone to pass along unconfermed information should be sued and possibly put in jail for there actions.

The media (all of them) were disgracefull throughout the whole ordeal. Weather or not they were to blame.

The person, persons, company or not who didn't listen to the no phone rule needs to suffer the wrath of what they, she or he did. If not this kind of thing will continue to happen.

Damn shame

Unfortunately, we humans have the uncanny ability to defy many rules. People like the media are like that. They risk many things just to be the first to break A news. :-/

As for those who didn't initially follow the rule regarding communications during an incident or disaster, they deserve nothing less than being fired from their jobs and never to seek any job better than working as a cashier at McDonalds on minimum wage.