Brookwood, AL - The Brookwood mining community is no stranger to grief. Today they are grieving again as 1 miner is killed and 9 injured in an accident. One former miner put it into perspective. Ricky Rose says, "this brings back the other explosion to me, and right now I'm just shaking on the inside I can't hardly stand it." Rose spent the morning trying to find out just what had happened at Jim Walters mine number 7. Rose is not just a curiosity seeker. He had a reason to be here. "I was in the September 23rd explosion killed 13 men and I survived."  While Ricky's memories haunt him he is also here for another reason. He says, "a coal miner is a different breed of person he's got comrades your buddies, your friends. You spend more time with coal miners when you're at work than you do your family."

Janet Thompson is the mother of one of the rescuers who was hospitalized. For her this was a tough day emotionally. "Overwhelming emotion, you know, you're sad on one hand that somebody didn't make it but then you're relieved on the other hand that your loved one did." The words of a mother relieved that her son, one of 8 mine rescuers brought here to DCH hospital is able to walk away and go home tonight. Matt Thompson describes what it was like inside that mine in this exclusive interview.  "It was unbelieveable conditions, I mean worst environment you can imagine, 100 110 degrees or so hundred, above a hundred percent humidity, sweat until you can't sweat any more, can't go anymore."  What went through your mind I asked. "Just trying to get the man out, knew we had a man down we went in for a job and we weren't coming out til we finished it."

 

 

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