Shared Heartbreak...and Inspiration

George Widman/AP

"In the process of being cautious, we allowed the jubilation to go on longer than it should have." That was how International Coal Group CEO Ben Hatfield summarized an error of judgment that allowed the terrified families of 13 trapped coal miners to celebrate wildly the imminent return of 12 of their loved ones -- alive and apparently well enough to join their families at the local church rather than go immediately to the hospital for evaluation.

Problem was, the company knew for hours that there was a good chance the miners were not alive at all and, in fact, all but one of them were not. The families vented their anger and betrayal to company officials and the media once the truth came out.

Mr. Hatfield explained in a news conference later that he had no way of knowing which report was correct and did not want to add to the confusion until more was known. Usually, a decision not to speculate - to wait for confirmation - is a good one, but not in this case.

The company needed to have a representative standing by with the families for however long it took to ascertain the awful truth, and to report back to company officials at the mine frequently. Once Mr. Hatfield and others were informed that a celebration was underway, complete with church bells tolling to bring sleeping citizens back to the scene, the company needed to take swift action. The families needed to be told, in a gentle but firm way, that there have been mixed reports about the status of their loved ones. That miscommunication is easy when dealing with rescuers wearing oxygen masks far below the surface of the earth. That there is still hope, but nothing more than that yet.

A deadly crisis takes our notoriously shades-of-gray world and reinvents it, briefly, as a black-and-white universe. There are priorities that are unyielding for a time. The first priority is always those who are in harm's way - who may be injured or lose their lives. A close second are the families and loved ones of those victims. Handle the crisis well - make it known that nothing, absolutely nothing, is more important in your world right now than their well-being, and you can be forgiven for not having all the answers right away. But mishandle the crisis - let your good intentions stand in the way of good judgment - and you may not ever regain the trust of those who look to you for help.

More on the West Virginia tragedy later...