Sago Blast Probe Focuses on Lightning

[dogday]

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. May 4, 2006 (AP)— A mining professor suggested that an electrical pulse from a lightning strike snaked into the mouth of Sago Mine and traveled down a conveyor belt, where it caused the explosion that led to the deaths of 12 miners.

Once inside, the charge stopped just feet from the sealed-off section where the blast occurred, Thomas Novak, a professor at Virginia Tech, told a panel Wednesday on the second day of hearings into what caused the blast.

"Lightning doesn't have to strike something directly" to cause an explosion, Novak said, then agreed under questioning that his preliminary findings could be characterized as a "hypothesis."

Many at the hearings, which were to continue Thursday, have been skeptical about the explanation. International Coal Group, which owns the mine, announced in March that its internal investigation pointed to lightning as the cause of the blast, though it could not explain the precise conduit the electricity took into the mine. Federal and state regulators have yet to release their findings.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/Mine/wireStory?id=1921386

[DUHandle]

1. I've got a nice bridge

and I can let you have it cheap.

[dogday]

5. This is the biggest bunch of doo-doo

put on your boots and grabs your shovels.. There is a boat-load of bullshit in this story....:wtf:

[acmavm]

2. Here's what killed them:

'...blast killed one miner immediately, while 12 other miners slowly succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning in the gas-filled mine.'

The survivor said their EQUIPMENT FAILED. They died because of lack of oxygen. Not being struck by lightening. They would have survived with proper equipment.

[Minnesota Libra]

3. Yeah, and WHO or WHAT caused the lightening??? This makes no sense!! nt

[Coexist]

4. When lightning hit my outside cable line - electricians WERE NOT ALLOWED

to list that conclusion on their bills as "cause of problem" because if it went to a trial - it is IMPOSSIBLE to prove that lightning struck without a photo of it. They said they had to put "extreme power surge" - even though it was obvious what happened (blackened wires at point of hit).

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. I thought it was stampeding elephants. Oh, that's next.