2 miners who worked during blast kill selves

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Two miners whose jobs included watching for safety hazards inside the Sago Mine before January’s deadly explosion committed suicide in the past month.

Neither man had been blamed for the disaster that killed 12 of their comrades, and neither one’s family has definitively linked the suicides to the accident. But those who knew the men say there is little doubt the tragedy haunted them.

“I’m not sure anybody ever gets over it,” said Vickie Boni, the ex-wife of one of them. “You live with it every day.”

Both men were working at the Sago Mine on the day of the blast and had been questioned by investigators along with dozens of other witnesses. One former co-worker said at least one of the men felt investigators were treating him as if he had done something wrong.

John Nelson Boni, whose job that day was to maintain water pumps, shot himself Saturday at his home in Volga, state police said.

William Lee “Flea” Chisolm, the 47-year-old dispatcher responsible for monitoring carbon monoxide alarms and communicating with crews underground that morning, shot himself at his Belington home Aug. 29, authorities said Tuesday.

State and federal mine-safety agencies have not determined the cause of the Jan. 2 blast. But a spokeswomen for both agencies said both men had been thoroughly interviewed and there had been no plans to talk with them again.

Mine owner International Coal Group has said it believes a lightning bolt somehow ignited methane gas that had accumulated naturally in a sealed-off section of the mine.

Boni, who was certified as a fireboss and occasionally conducted pre-shift inspections to ensure the safety of incoming crews, told investigators he had detected low levels of methane in that area five days earlier and reported his findings to a supervisor, who was not alarmed.

As for Chisholm, he told investigators that a carbon monoxide alarm had sounded about 20 minutes before the explosion. Following ICG procedure, he alerted a crew inside the mine and asked it to verify the alarm because the system had a history of malfunctions.

At a hearing in May, ICG executive Sam Kitts said miners are not required to evacuate when there is an alarm; they verify it, then decide how to proceed.

“The dispatcher did what he was supposed to do: He notified a maintenance person who was then able to go up and check the sensor before they would have again advanced onto the section,” Kitts testified.

Friends and family said Boni retired shortly after the accident. Chisolm had taken a leave of absence but remained an employee, according to ICG.

Boni’s ex-wife said he had never discussed the accident with her, but “I’m sure it had weighed on his mind.” Vickie Boni, who divorced Boni 15 years ago but saw him when he picked up their daughter for visits, said her own father died in a coal mine accident when she was a teenager. “It’s something you never get over,” she said.

Relatives told investigators Chisolm had been depressed about personal matters and drinking heavily in the weeks before his death. Chisolm’s obituary also said he had been ill.