West Virginia Mine Accident: Forget Miscommunication

In West Virginia, suffering families of dead miners are looking for someone to blame. By giving them false hopes, Ben Hatfield has become the target of their wrath.

Ben Hatfield should not receive so much blame for letting families believe that 12 miners were still alive for a moment. He made a mistake and probably feels horribly sorry for what he did. The emotion of the moment carried everybody away. He probably was told the news by someone else. And once we find this person, once we put a face on this mistake, we'll see a human being embarrassed to death, probably deeply regretful and who meant no harm. Another victim.

A tragedy happened in West Virginia: 12 people died in a mine accident. It's not that for a few hours, people were led to think that their closed ones were alive, as painful as it might be. Now let's focus the inquiry on mining security, not on informal communication channels. This is what will prevent another of those tragedies.

Ben Hatfield might not be off the hook.

(By the way, 42 people were killed in Iraq today. Thought I'd mention.)