The president of the company that owns a West Virginia coal mine where 12 miners died said the owners "sincerely regret" that families erroneously believed for three hours that their loved ones were alive.
President of International Coal Group Inc, Mr Ben Hatfield said about 45 minutes after an initial erroneous report that 12 miners had survived, word came that all but one of the miners were dead. He said the immediate reaction was that the report could be wrong. And he said company officials didn't feel it was prudent to pass that along to families, without being sure.
He said, "In the process of being cautious, we allowed the jubilation to go on longer than it should have."
Most of the 13 coal miners trapped in an explosion survived the blast itself, then retreated deeper into the mine and hung up a curtain-like barrier to keep out toxic gases while they waited to be rescued, officials said Wednesday. All but one were found dead after more than a day and a half.
The miners' families learned of the 12 deaths during a harrowing night in which they were mistakenly told at first that 12 of the men were alive. It took three hours before the families were told the truth, and their joy turned instantly to fury.
The sole survivor, Randal McCloy, remains in critical condition but is showing no sign of brain damage or carbon monoxide poisoning after being trapped for a day and a half.
Anne Meredith, whose father died in the incident, said: "I feel that we were lied to all along," adding that she planned to sue ICG.
Virginia Dean, whose uncle was in the Sago mine in central West Virginia, reacted by saying, "Only one lived. They lied."
"The initial report from the rescue team to the command center indicated multiple survivors, but that information proved to be a miscommunication," Mr Hatfield told a press conference.
He denied the company had confirmed the initial report, and said he did not want to assign blame to the rescue team.
The sadness and fury that greeted Hatfield's statement contrasted with earlier jubilation after a man burst into nearby Sago Baptist Church where family members were holding vigil, shouting: "It's a miracle, it's a miracle!" and saying that the 12 men had been found alive.
Bells rang at the church and cheers broke out when the announcement was made.
Any hope of finding the men alive had been tempered with caution because early tests found lethal levels of carbon monoxide in the tunnel where they were believed trapped. Each man carried only about one hour's worth of clean air, and there had been no communication with them since the explosion.
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin said he had no idea how the miscommunication had occurred and would be conducting an enquiry to determine that. "I don't have the answers for that. I wish I did. I will," he told a news conference.
"No one can say anything about that would make anything any better," he said. "Just a horrible situation."
There has been no explanation for the explosion, which occurred in a recently closed section of the mine, which employs about 145 miners.
"We know that there had to be methane gas, or a buildup of fuel if you will, back there, and there had to be something that sparked it. And no one can speculate on ... what could have happened," Manchin said earlier.
The men had been trapped some 13,000 feet (4,000 metres) inside the mine.