An underground fire Friday forced mine rescue teams back again from their search for four possible survivors of a West Virginia mine explosion, dpa reported. But officials said yet another attempt would be made Friday afternoon to re-enter the lethal mine shaft now that nitrogen had been pumped in to reduce the volatile oxygen content of the air. Nonetheless, the outlook was grim four days after an explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine killed at least 25 workers - the worst US mining accident in more than 25 years. The 16 rescue workers would again try to reach the remaining unsearched refuge chamber, which is airtight and would have offered safety if the four miners managed to reach it. "There's no way with (the) atmospheres we've seen that anybody could have survived outside of that chamber," said Kevin Stricklin of the US mine oversight agency in broadcast remarks. Smoke from an underground fire forced the decision to evacuate the rescuers earlier Friday, Stricklin said. US President Barack Obama, who had just returned from signing the new nuclear arms reduction agreement with Russia in Prague, said he was "praying for a miracle" and was in "awe of the courage and selflessness shown by rescue teams that risked their lives over and over." He noted how the accident had wiped out three members of a close- knit family in an industry where multiple family members often work side by side. Two members of the same family were the only ones to have escaped after the explosion rocked the Upper Big Branch mine on Monday. The accident, possibly caused by a mixture of volatile methane gas and coal dust, occurred Monday. The mine had been repeatedly cited for violations that allowed methane and other poison gas build-ups. Obama is meeting next week with Secretary of Labour Hilda Solis and Mine Safety and Health Administrator Joe Main to find out "what went wrong and why it went wrong so badly" in West Virginia. The rescuers have been working to get to the two airtight rescue chambers that hold enough air and supplies for 96 hours and 15 miners. The first one they came to had not been used, and they were not able to get to the second due to the fire. Rescue workers had to retreat twice already - on Monday and Thursday - because of the explosive and lethal presence of poison gas. Rescue teams have been drilling 400-metre holes into the side of the mountain to ventilate, and had hoped that progress on the holes throughout Thursday would have opened the chamber to safer access by rescue teams on Friday. Stricklin said that he was "confident" that if the rescue workers make it to the second chamber and find the missing miners there, that they would be "alive." If the next attempt is successful, he projected the chamber would be reached by late Friday afternoon. Only seven bodies have been removed from the disaster site. The other 18 were confirmed dead when rescuers entered the mine on Monday, only to be turned back by gas build-ups. On the way in to the first chamber earlier Friday, rescue workers had to pass six bodies. Stricklin emphasized that no efforts would be made to remove the bodies until all hope had been given up on the missing miners.
