W.Va. gov.: Situation dire but not giving up hope of finding 4 missing miners; 25 are dead

W.Va. gov. wants miracle to find missing miners

MONTCOAL, W.Va. — Gov. Joe Manchin says he is hoping for a miracle that four missing West Virginia coal miners will be found alive after a blast killed 25 people.

Manchin’s comments came early Tuesday morning as rescue crews prepared to begin drilling bore holes into Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine in southern West Virginia in the hopes of locating the miners.

The four had not located before dangerous levels of methane gas forced rescue crews out of the mine.

Manchin says the situation looks bleak, but he says miracles can happen and pointed to the 2006 Sago Mine explosion.

Crews found miner Randal McCloy Jr. alive after he was trapped for more than 40 hours atmosphere poisoned with carbon monoxide.