Officials at a coal mine in West Virginia say "miscommunication" led to false reports late Tuesday that 12 workers had survived an underground explosion two days ago.
The president of the company that owns the mine says the erroneous reports "spread like wildfire," leading to jubilant celebrations by anxious family members gathered at a nearby church. It is still not clear how those reports originated.
Three hours later, those same relatives left the church stunned and enraged after mine officials informed them that 11 miners had died and a lone survivor was in critical condition. The body of a 13th miner was found earlier Tuesday.
Doctors say the survivor, Randal McCloy, 27, is suffering from dehydration and is sedated. But they say he is moving and is responding to stimuli.
Some information for this story provided by AFP and Reuters.
