THE families of 12 US coal miners killed by an underground explosion expressed rage and disbelief yesterday after they were initially led to believe that their loved ones had survived the disaster.

In an unprecedented and horribly cruel end to the West Virginia mining disaster, anger and grief replaced jubilation for the families who had wept and sung with joy after being told that 12 of the 13 trapped miners were coming home alive.

In a scene of ghastly intensity that soon turned violent, the families were told, after three hours of celebrations, that only one man had survived Monday morning’s underground explosion and that contrary to what they had been led to believe, his 12 colleagues were dead.

The survivor, 27-year-old Randal McCloy, was in a critical condition last night with a collapsed lung and kidney malfunction, but is expected to recover. He was able to squeeze his wife’s hand from his hospital bed.

The extraordinary drama, played out live on US television, began when bells at the Sago Baptist Church, where the families in the small mining community had gathered to await news of the miners’ fate, began ringing out in celebration at 11.53pm on Tuesday after somebody in the mine command centre called a mobile telephone inside the church to say that 12 of the men had been found alive.

For some reason, said Gene Kitts, senior vice-president of International Coal Group, the mine owner, the message came up from a rescue team 12,000 feet down the mine shaft that “12 were alive”.

Ben Hatfield, ICG’s president, said that was overheard because the command centre’s communication system is on an open speaker. He also appeared to blame priests in the church for the tragic error. He said that when the truth was discovered, “at least some of the clergy received the message”, but it had not been passed on to the families.

When news of the “survival” initially broke, family and friends inside the church cheered and applauded, children were woken from their beds and taken to join in the celebration, and what rapidly became a large congregation broke out into renditions of Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art, as they hugged each other and gave thanks to God for a miracle.

Many papers went to press with banner headlines including “Alive!” and “Mining Miracle!” Charles Green, Mr McCloy’s father-in-law, said that the families had been led to believe that the men would be brought directly to the church after they had been cleaned up and had something to eat.

But at 2.44am, Ben Hatfield, the president of International Coal Group, the mine’s owners, entered the church to break the news that all but one of the miners were dead.

Chaos broke out as some relatives lunged at Mr Hatfield, and a fight began.

One distraught man had to be wrestled to the ground.

“I thought I was going to pass out,” said Sam Lands, a brother-in-law of Martin Bennett, one of the dead miners. “I couldn’t believe it. We’ve been lied to all along. We need answers.”

Anna Casto, a cousin of a dead miner, spoke of her “tremendous anger” and demanded to know why officials from the mining company had waited almost three hours before they told relatives that 12 of the miners had not survived. “We got our hopes built up. You just don’t do that to people.”

She added that the tragedy had also shaken the faith of some in the community. “We have got some of us saying that we don’t even know if there is a Lord any more. We had a miracle, and it was taken away from us.”

Mr Hatfield said that he knew within 20 minutes that the reports were wrong, and conceded that “in the process of being cautious, we allowed the jubilation to go on longer than it should have”.

He said that it was not wise to send a message to families without being sure how many were dead, adding that the mine owners “sincerely regret” that the families rejoiced in ignorance for so long.

“We are saddened by the fact that the communication problems we experienced only added to the terrible tragedy,” he said.

Earlier, asked why it took him three hours to tell the families the truth, he said: “Let’s put this in perspective. Who do I tell not to celebrate? I didn’t know whether the number of dead people was 12 or one.

“We did not want to put the families through yet another rollercoaster of ‘Well, some of them are dead, some of them aren’t’.”

Nick Helms, whose father died, said: “They said it was miscommunication.

“Come on. You come in and you tell these people that have been waiting here you’ve got 12 guys coming out. There is no miscommunication.”

Mr Hatfield said the miners had remained alive for a period of time after Monday morning’s explosion. They had built a rough barricade structure and had donned their breathing apparatus, which held one hour of oxygen.

The Bush Administration pledged an investigation. Mr Bush said: “Today our nation mourns those who lost their lives.”

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