A Miner's Last Words; Miners who Escaped; Survivor's Fight
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: and I know I had read a statement by someone else in your family that -- I mean, what do you think those last moments were like for him? Because also in this letter he says, it wasn't bad --</s>RANDY TOLER, UNCLE MARTIN TOLER, JR. WROTE NOTE: Just went to sleep.</s>COOPER: Just went to sleep. What do you make of that?</s>TOLER: I think he wanted to set our minds at ease, that we knew that he didn't suffer and I just think that God gave him peace at the end.</s>COOPER: Do you think he saw others around him going to sleep as well?</s>TOLER: Yes, I do. I think that's part of what that meant.</s>COOPER: And then at the bottom of the note, he scrawls the last bit of paper, I love you.</s>TOLER: That's right. I think that was meant for his wife only. But, of course, he meant he loved us all, but that was specifically for his wife, I think.</s>COOPER: Tell us about your uncle. I mean, what kind of man was he? You said he was a religious man. I mean, I've seen this beautiful --</s>TOLER: He was a very jolly, happy person that never displayed any depression or any down moments. He always kept his chin up. Always laughing and good-naturedly teasing you.</s>COOPER: And we've got this beautiful picture at a wedding and also with his grandson, I believe.</s>TOLER: Yes.</s>COOPER: His name is Cole -- is that correct?</s>TOLER: Yes. Don't you think Martin's a handsome man?</s>COOPER: Well, it's a beautiful photo. I mean, there's so much joy in it and a closeness that really comes out in that photo. I've been looking at it for several hours now.</s>TOLER: Well, our family wants to say, too, that we have nothing, but gratitude towards the coal management, Sam Kitts and his brother Gene and Ben Hatfield. They did a heroic effort with a great deal of pressure on them. I just really feel for them and the burden that they were under that night.</s>COOPER: It's clear that they felt that burden. I mean, you could see it in the press conferences and as many hard questions as have been asked of them, I don't think anyone doubts that this has taken a real toll on them.</s>TOLER: Yes. We really feel for them and we really appreciate their efforts. We have nothing -- we have no animosity at all.</s>COOPER: Are there questions that you still want answered?</s>TOLER: Not really. We just basically accepted this as the way things have been and it's just best to leave some things alone.</s>COOPER: You want Martin's last words to speak --</s>TOLER: Absolutely.</s>COOPER: -- speak the loudest. Tell all I'll see them on the other side.</s>TOLER: Absolutely. That's what he wanted. That's why he wrote the note the way he did.</s>COOPER: We have heard from other family members that there are maybe as many as four notes. Have you talked to other family members or have you seen other notes?</s>TOLER: I haven't, but if there is, I'm sure that they probably used my uncle's ink pen because coal miners typically don't carry ink pens, just the section boss does. And I'm sure he would have directed them to do that and I'm sure he probably told them that it didn't look good and that they needed to make peace with their maker.</s>COOPER: And the piece of paper, what is it written on?</s>TOLER: It's written on some kind of insurance form that he had in his pocket for some reason I'm not sure why.</s>COOPER: And you think that the pen -- it's written in pen. You think the pen was his and maybe he gave it to other miners as well?</s>TOLER: I would think. I worked several years in the mines with him and I don't know of any other coal miners except the section boss that would carry an ink pen. There was just really no purpose in carrying it and you have so much other equipment to carry, that you wouldn't want to do that.</s>COOPER: Randy, did Martin like mining? I mean, how long had he been a miner?</s>TOLER: Approximately 32 or 33 years and it was his whole life. That's all he knew.</s>COOPER: And I mean, and again we're showing this picture of his grandson. I love the fact that he named his grandson Cole.</s>TOLER: Yes. He had a special bond with that one. The minute they first met, they just seemed to be soul mates. I know he loved his other grandchildren, but Cole was a soul mate.</s>COOPER: And do a lot of people in your family work in the mines? I know you said you worked there for a while.</s>TOLER: Yes. At one time or another most all of the male members in my family have worked underground.</s>COOPER: What's it like, you know, going into those mines every day? I mean it is such a tough job. You guys are so brave doing it.</s>TOLER: Well, Anderson, when you grow up with it and you start at such a young age, when you feel that you're invincible, it's an adventure-type thing. And you're too young and dumb to worry about a lot of dangers because, like I said, you feel invincible. But the danger is there. But the nation needs coal and we need energy as well as we need defense. And soldiers put their lives on the line every day and go right back every day and coal miners are the same way.</s>COOPER: Well, it has been an honor for me to be down in your community these last couple of days. I'm sorry it was under these circumstances. But I got to tell you, every time I turn up the thermostat in my house or use electricity, I'm going to think about where it comes from now, more I think than I ever have before. I don't think I really ever thought about it very much.</s>TOLER: Well, Anderson, you guys with CNN have done a terrific job and you, in particular, have done a terrific job and we appreciate it.</s>COOPER: Randy, that means a lot to me. And I do appreciate you saying that and I hope we can meet one day. I've told Jodi down there with the Rotary Club that I'm hoping to come down for the Strawberry Festival at the end of May and if I do, I'd love to see you in happier times.</s>TOLER: Yes, that would be a great thing.</s>COOPER: All right, well please give my thoughts and prayers to your family. And my best to you. And I appreciate you taking the time to call in and tell us about your uncle and about what he's done.</s>TOLER: Thank you for the opportunity.</s>COOPER: And again, just to leave you, our viewers, with the words of Martin Toler, Jr. He says, Tell all I will see them on the other side. He also went on to say, It wasn't bad. I just went to sleep. And he went to say, I love you. Monday morning began just like every other shift for the men who worked the Sago Mine in West Virginia, but we know that 12 of the men who descended into the earth that day did not come out alive. Other men did and tonight, they are sharing their harrowing stories of what happened. CNN's Randi Kaye reports.</s>RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice-over): Early Monday morning, Elton Wamsley went to work at the Sago Mine. About 10,000 feet in, it happened.</s>ELTON WAMSLEY, SAGO MINE SURVIVOR: It was just a big blast of air, dust, smoke and then it started getting hot.</s>KAYE, (on camera): Did you ever see any fire?</s>WAMSLEY: No.</s>KAYE: What did you hear?</s>WAMSLEY: Just roar and rushing wind. I thought it was a roof fall somewhere in the mine.</s>KAYE, (voice-over): Wamsley was with a team of 15 miners. They and another miner, a fire boss, working farther up, all realized they were in grave danger as the heat and the smoke kept coming at them.</s>WAMSLEY: I thought we was going to die. Especially when the heat and the smoke. I didn't think we would get out.</s>KAYE: They pushed their way to safe air pockets, put on their emergency breathing apparatus and managed to escape. (</s>On camera): How did you manage to get to a safe pocket when there's this rushing wind and moist dust air, as you describe it?</s>WAMSLEY: Just have to feel your way along 'til you find it.</s>KAYE: What did it look like in there?</s>WAMSLEY: Well, it was just -- it was dark. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face.</s>KAYE (voice-over): Wamsley's wife, Shannon, was at home. It was lightning. Something didn't feel right. She raced to the mine after learning of the explosion.</s>SHANNON WAMSLEY, WIFE OF MINER WAMSLEY: One of the wives had come up and it was horrible. She was crying, wondering where her husband was and asking Elton, and that's when it dawned on me that I was very fortunate. And I went from being happy to being very -- I guess the feelings I went through was feeling guilty that I had my husband.</s>KAYE: The other team of miners, about 3,000 feet ahead of Wamsley's team, were trapped. (</s>On camera): How hard was it to get yourselves out, knowing what might have happened to the rest of them?</s>WAMSLEY: It was hard, but you got to think about your own individual family first.</s>KAYE: Have you given any thought to why them and why not all of you?</s>WAMSLEY: Yes. What delayed us that morning.</s>KAYE (voice-over): Wamsley's crew needed a bigger buggy to take them in. It delayed them ten minutes and saved their lives. (</s>On camera): That's an incredible thing to have escaped possible death, just my minutes.</s>WAMSLEY: Yes, because if it had been a normal day, then we'd have been right behind them. We would have already been around the turn.</s>KAYE: And caught in the explosion?</s>WAMSLEY: If we'd have went around the turn, we'd have been stuck.</s>S. WAMSLEY: How can you truly be happy when all the other miners' wives are going through such a hard time? And it's -- if he would have been further, I would be right there with them.</s>WAMSLEY: I told my wife, I said, they're behind the barricade. They'll find them.</s>KAYE (voice-over): Rescue crews did find them, but it was too late. Only one miner, Randall McCloy, was still alive.</s>S. WAMSLEY: I touch him every day and lately I wake up and I stare at him when he's sleeping and he snores and I used to complain about it. I don't complain about it anymore.</s>KAYE: Now, Elton Wamsley told me today that he remembers the lightning that morning and he believed that -- it was a strange thing for him, too, because he doesn't remember seeing a lot of lightning in this area in the month of January. He also told me that he doesn't remember any smell of gas or anything in the mine that morning, Anderson. But most importantly, he wanted to point out that there were actually 17 survivors, Anderson, of this mining accident. He said there were 15 members of his team. There was a fire boss far behind him, much closer to the mine's entrance, and of course, Randall McCloy, who is now in the hospital. And he thinks that knowing that knowing that 17 people actually survived this accident is better for the community. And he thinks it will help them heal faster here.</s>COOPER: All right. Randi, thanks. Randy McCloy, Jr., was not in the right place at the right time on Monday morning. Of course, some how survived being trapped for more than 40 hours in that mine. The only miner to survive the ordeal. As we've been reporting tonight, his condition of course remains serious. And there are new concerns -- new reasons for concern about his long-term recovery. CNN's Chris Huntington looks into that.</s>CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Randy McCloy's mother, it's the small things that give her hope.</s>TAMBRA FLINT, MOTHER OF RANDY MCCLOY JR.: He's fighting really hard to become completely, you know, awake and alert.</s>HUNTINGTON: Doctors are seeing slight improvements in his kidney, liver and lung function, but McCloy remains in a coma. And the doctors say it appears he has suffered some brain damage.</s>DR. JOHN PRESCOTT, WEST VIRGINIA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: We do believe that there has been some injury. But he's not waking up as quickly as we had hoped to, for him to do.</s>HUNTINGTON: So today, with his other vital signs strong enough to make the trip, an ambulance moved McCloy to a Pittsburgh hospital, where he is undergoing treatment in a special pressurized oxygen chamber.</s>DR. RICHARD SHANNON, ALLEGHENY GENERAL HOSPITAL: We are doing this because we want to leave no stone unturned. We want to offer him every possible benefit.</s>HUNTINGTON: The married father of a 4-year-old son and a 1-year- old daughter remains on dialysis and on a ventilator. Though doctors say he is taking a few breaths on his own as well. Family and faith seem to be the key to his recovery. McCloy's wife, parents, even his children are spending every possible moment they can at his side.</s>FLINT: For instance, when you know, you talk about things that he really loves to do, or if his children are around, he's moving a lot more. You can just tell that he's aware.</s>HUNTINGTON: But for now, doctors are declining to predict the pace of McCloy's recovery.</s>PRESCOTT: It just is so difficult to say how he's going to recover, how Randy is going to recover, what he's going to be like and what level of functioning he'll have in the future.</s>HUNTINGTON: Yet in the end, doctors say in many ways it's a miracle Randy McCloy survived at all.</s>DR. LARRY ROBERTS, WEST VIRGINIA HOSPITAL: Three minutes of oxygen deprivation to the brain can result in irreversible brain damage. Three minutes. Compare that to what Randy underwent in the mines, 40 plus hours. It really does fall into the realm of a miracle that he's with us at all.</s>HUNTINGTON: Anderson, we've spoken with members of Randy's family, his brothers, his stepfather, who described his Randy as a tough, fit guy. If anyone could come through this, it would be Randy in their estimation. The prognosis today, Anderson, as you know from what we've just reported, frankly, not as encouraging as it was just 24 hours ago because now despite the improvement in his vital organs -- heart, lung, liver and kidney -- this inactivity or the lesser activity in the brain waves than they'd like to see is disturbing. We're here in Pittsburgh at Allegheny General. He'll be undergoing these treatments for some days. He's already had one treatment. We're told that he'll do two 90-minute treatments per day in the hyperbaric chamber. When asked how much oxygen pressure, the doctor said that in each treatment it will be ramped up slowly with close monitoring of Randy's response -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: All right, Chris, thanks. As Randy McCloy fights for his recovery, the search for the cause of the mine explosion continues. Is it really possible that lightning was to blame? If so, coming up, research that may answer both those questions. Also, investigators say some of the wild fires in the southern planes are the work of arsonists. One young man in particular has been charged. How can they prove that, though? We're going to show you how it was done in one case. Colorado's largest wild fire, back in 2002. Across America and around the world, this is 360.