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Saturday, September 1, 2007, 3:30 AM EDT
Report combined from various sources.
Huntington, Utah — Federal officials announced that they have indefinitely suspended efforts to locate six miners trapped for nearly four weeks inside a coal mine after a robotic camera failed to provide any useful information, according to an attorney for the men’s families. He said that the officials stated that all options have been exhausted.
Allyn Davis, a regional director for the Mine Safety and Health Administration, told the families that the robotic camera was successfully lowered down the fourth of seven holes bored into the mountain, but that it quickly became bogged down in the mud as it moved over piles of debris, and it could not be retrieved. The camera was left where it was stuck, about 50 feet below the surface.
Miners Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips, and Manuel Sanchez have not been seen since August Sixth, when a thunderous mountain shudder caused ribs in the Crandall Canyon Mine to break, trapping them. It is not known if they survived the disaster. Three rescuers working underground were killed in a second collapse on August Sixteenth, another tragedy that has barred a different path to reach the trapped miners.
Federal safety officials have drilled a series of vertical boreholes into the mine in hopes of locating the six men, but each attempt found no signs of life and oxygen levels that were too low to sustain life. Hole No. 7, which penetrated more than 1,800 feet through the mountain and emerged into the mine on Thursday, found rubble nearly seven feet deep. The drill bit entered an area known as “the kitchen”, where miners are trained to seek refuge during a collapse.
Families of the missing men and the lost rescue workers gathered on the top of a mountain above Huntington, Utah on Friday Afternoon to release a rehabilitated golden eagle into the wild. The bird, which had been cared for by the Southwest Wildlife Foundation, was a symbol of healing and hope, Huntington City Councilwoman Julie Jones said. Representatives from each family touched the bird, offering up prayers for their loved ones. Wendy Black, the wife of killed rescuer Dale “Bird” Black, held the eagle at the end of the ceremony and released it
The co-owner of the mine, Cleveland-based Murray Energy Corporation, laid off 170 workers at the mine on Monday, but said Friday that about 35 of them accepted transfers to the company’s mining operations in Illinois and Ohio. Company chairman Bob Murray said he extended job transfers to all laid-off workers in Utah. It’s possible more could join the Illinois and Ohio operations, he said. Murray Energy owns nineteen mines in five states.
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