Utah mine rescuers focus on new section
HUNTINGTON, Utah — More than a week after a thunderous collapse, a search for six missing miners moved today toward the back of the mine, where officials hoped the men sought refuge in search of an air pocket.
Crews were drilling another hole in the hopes of finding the men. They already have drilled two holes and fitted a camera down one of them, but they have yet to learn the coal miners' fate.
The camera's ghostly images revealed only one indication of a miner's presence: a tool bag for hammers, wrenches and chisels hanging from a post, 3.4 miles from the entrance and more than 1,800 feet underground.
"It indicates we're very close to where the miners were working," said Bob Murray, chief of Murray Energy Corp., co-owner and operator of the Crandall Canyon mine.
The collapse of the mine's midsection was thought to have pushed ventilated air into a pocket at the rear of the mine, where the miners may have fled when their escape routes were cut off by rubble, said Richard Stickler, chief of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.
The mine partially collapsed under the weight of a shifting mountain and blew out the walls of mine shafts. Reinforced ceilings were left mostly intact, however. About 5 feet of headroom remained in the deeper mine shafts.
"We see a lot of open area. We see good height. Space is what they need and we saw a lot of space," said Al Davis, who heads up MSHA's Western operations.
As crews started drilling a nearly 9-inch-wide camera hole late Monday, Murray said the pace of rescue efforts picked up inside the mine, where heavy machinery was clawing at loose rubble that nearly fills a main passageway.
Rescuers cleared about 680 feet of the 2,000 feet of rubble they were expected to encounter in the mine's main passageway.
The effort could take several more days, but for the first time since the Aug. 6 collapse, the rescuers were progressing steadily forward, without the frequent interruptions that have characterized the rescue effort so far.
"We are moving at a more rapid pace," Murray said late Monday.
