Family of Mine Victim Wants Answers

(April 6) -- One of the 25 victims of the West Virginia mine explosion was a 62-year-old miner just five weeks from retiring. His family is angry and looking for answers.

Benny R. Willingham worked as a miner for 30 years, including the past 17 years with the Massey Energy Co. He'd planned to take his wife on a cruise to the Virgin Islands next month, his sister-in-law told The Associated Press.

"Benny was the type -- he probably wouldn't have stayed retired long," Sheila Prillaman said. "He wasn't much of a homebody."

Prillaman said her family was angry because they learned of Willingham's death when they saw his name on a list released by Massey, even though the company said it wouldn't release names of the dead until company representatives informed relatives personally.

Willingham's daughter, Michelle McKinney, said when her dad had not called her mother after work, family members gathered. "We just waited and waited, and actually the coal company still has not called to tell us that my dad is dead," she said on NBC's "Today" show. "We heard other ways."

She said her mother was not doing well. "She's just waiting to wake up, hoping it was a dream," she said on "Today."

"We don't know where my dad's body is at," McKinney told CNN. "We want answers. We're very upset."

Other victims have not yet been identified, although Gov. Joe Manchin III said three members of one family had perished. "That's just unbelievable," the governor said. "Three from a single family."

Diana Davis told The Associated Press that the three victims in her family were her husband, Timmy Davis, 51, and his nephews, 27-year-old Josh Napper and 20-year-old Cory Davis.

Timmy Davis Jr. said his father had a passion for the outdoors and mining. "He loved to work underground," he told the AP. "He loved that place." He also said his brother and an uncle were at the mine Monday and survived the blast.

The explosion at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine near Montcoal killed 25 miners and left four missing. The names were not released, and 14 of the dead were unidentified.

"We have 18 families at the highest anxiety level, not knowing if maybe one of the four would be theirs, with a little shred of hope," Manchin told ABC.

"These are the toughest people, West Virginians. Hard-working, just great people," he said. "And they have their faith in God and in each other and their family units, the way they hang together."

The families gathered overnight as they awaited news about their loves ones. Sheri McGraw of the American Red Cross said the wait was agonizing.

"When the news was broken that 25 men had died, the agony was just overbearing," she told ABC.

Several hundred people had been nervously waiting in a small room, she said, holding on to each other for comfort.

"The cries that went out -- it's just probably something I'll never forget," McGraw said.

A Facebook page called "Pray for the Coal Miners from the Upper Branch Mine in West Virginia" has been created, and it had 11,000 fans by late morning.

"My grandfather and his father before him were both miners, and my heart goes out to the miners and their families," read one of the messages.