A year later, Quecreek accident still unresolved
SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) – People involved in last July’s triumphant rescue of nine workers from the flooded Quecreek Mine still get choked up thinking about it, talking of divine intervention and tireless teamwork. A year later, though, some of the shine has worn off the miracle at the mine.
Investigations into the inundation remain secret. Lawsuits, filed by six of the miners, have some neighbors complaining about a perceived threat to their jobs.
And, in this rural area 70 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, people unused to media questions wonder when the attention will finally stop.
“It’s been a year,” said Doug Custer, a miner at Quecreek who escaped when the mine flooded. “It’s time to get on with your life.”
That may be easier said than done for the men who spent 77 hours trapped underground, parceling up a sandwich to eat and writing farewell notes to their families.
Some suffer from anxiety and depression. Some find sleep elusive. Lawyer Howard Messer, who represents seven of them, said his clients are still on medication. Only two of the nine – Randy Fogle and Mark Popernack – have returned to work.
“You go through this nightmare,” said Messer. “It’s like being caught in an endless Freddy Krueger movie.”
On July 24, the miners – Fogle, Popernack, John Phillippi, Dennis Hall, Ronald Hileman, John Unger, Robert Pugh, Blaine Mayhugh and Thomas Foy – were trapped when they breached an abandoned adjacent mine, flooding Quecreek with more than 50 million gallons of water. They had thought the other mine was 300 feet away.
Rescuers rushed to drill a man-sized hole to the spot where they believed the miners were, pumping air through a smaller hole in hopes of keeping the miners breathing and the rising water at bay.
Then, on the night of July 27, the hole reached the chamber. The jubilant word came to an expectant nation: All nine survived.
“Watching the miners come up was much like watching our kids being born,” said former Gov. Mark Schweiker, who became the spokesman for the rescue.
It soon became clear, however, that the miracle was destined to become muddled.
In November, investigators issued a preliminary report, blaming an inaccurate map of the neighboring mine and wondering why a later map, showing mining in the area where the breakthrough occurred, hadn’t been available.
That report hasn’t been released in its final form as a grand jury finishes looking into the incident.
Then there are the six lawsuits alleging owners and operators, both past and present, knew or should have known of the danger because tax records show the area had been mined 40 years earlier.
“The point becomes, what’s more important here,” said Messer, “the men or the coal?”
But those lawsuits have led to some bad feelings, particularly among some miners at Quecreek, who worry they could lose their jobs.
Although Black Wolf Coal Co., the contractor mining the coal, could not be sued under workers compensation laws, the lawsuits were filed against PBS Coals Inc., which operates the mine.
Messer says the lawsuits aren’t intended to put anyone out of business, that the companies are insured. But Gerard Cipriani, who represents PBS, said the ongoing investigations and lawsuits cost the company plenty. And if Quecreek were to be shut down, it could cost miners their jobs.
Custer, who says his life may have been saved when one of the trapped miners warned his crew of the inundation, says what he sees as a threat to his job keeps him up nights. He says he would leave mining anyway for something more safe, but he needs the paycheck.
“I bet 90 percent of the guys are worried about it,” he said.
Another source of concern has been the suicide last month of Bob Long, who helped pinpoint where the miners were holed up underground. His work helped lead to the drilling of the hole that provided air and warmth to the miners.
The only rescuer to receive, like the miners, $150,000 from The Walt Disney Co. for a TV movie and book, Long apparently had a break with the miners and their families over his being part of the deal.
Messer said any falling out was short-lived. But Long’s father, Wally Long, who lives in California, says the rift weighed on his son somewhat. He doesn’t know if it played a role in his death and said his son had other problems.
With the anniversary this week, the rescue is being celebrated in and around the area. A festival is planned in Windber, not far away, with the crowning of “Miss Miracle Miner.”
This Sunday, a prayer service is scheduled at the rescue site, on Bill and Lori Arnold’s farm. The following weekend, there will be a ceremony, with Schweiker and others scheduled to speak.
The Arnolds have been giving tours of the site, telling the story of the rescue and raising money for a memorial. Already, nine evergreens have been planted, with a Red Oak amid them representing the faith that saved the nine men.
Quecreek reopened in November, and Fogle went back to working underground early this year. This week, Mark Popernack took a job with PBS, selling coal. Neither are part of the lawsuits.
Popernack was the only miner willing to speak to The Associated Press.
He has spent his time fishing and hunting, celebrating a second chance at life. He has no hard feelings but acknowledges the fallout. He wonders why people “want to find something negative.”
In the mine, a year ago, he just wondered if he’d ever see the outside again.
“I’m just glad to be able to see it rain,” he said.
AP-ES-07-19-03 1103EDT