Mine tragedy

It is all but impossible to imagine the range of emotions that swept through the anxious West Virginia families in Tallmansville who were waiting for news of 13 coal miners trapped underground after an explosion.

These families were no strangers to mine mishaps, and they understood full well that the longer they waited, the less likely they would ever see their loved ones alive. But they kept waiting for a miracle.

The announcement late Tuesday night that all but one of the trapped miners had been found alive appeared to be that miracle. Jubilant relatives, friends and mine officials celebrated the good news. But in under an hour, mine officials learned the grim reality that one of the miners was still alive, and the other 12 were dead. Officials waited nearly two hours to make the second announcement.

"How could you be so thoughtless and cruel?" asked an angry reader of the Southeast Missourian after reading this headline in Wednesday's edition: "Family members celebrate after 12 West Virginia Coal miners found alive."

Because of the timing of the two announcements from the mine, many papers reported the good news in Wednesday papers. The second announcement came too late for most newspaper deadlines.

(The Southeast Missourian's deadline is midnight. The Associated Press bulletin with the second announcement came at 1:58 a.m. Wednesday -- when most of the Southeast Missourian's press run was over.)

While there are many questions that remain to be answered about how these events in Tallmansville unfolded, let's not lose sight of the fact that the loved ones of a dozen miners are dealing with levels of sorrow that deserve our sympathy and prayers.