Seismic activity suspends miner rescue effort

Drilling in the hopes of communicating
Two holes were being drilled vertically in an attempt to get air and food to the miners and to communicate with them, said Richard Stickler, head of the MSHA, at a news conference.

If the men were not killed by the cave-in itself, Murray said, he believed there was enough air and water for them to survive for days or “for perhaps weeks.” But the government’s chief mine inspector in the West was not as confident.

“We’re hoping there’s air down there. We have no way of knowing that,” said MSHA’s Al Davis.

There were 30 pieces of heavy mining equipment in place and 134 people dedicated to the rescue, Murray said. Two C-130s from the Air Reserve in Pittsburgh were being sent with seismic equipment and staff.

The trapped miners were believed to be about 3½ miles inside the mine, situated 140 miles south of Salt Lake City. Rescuers were able to get within 1,700 feet Monday but had advanced only 310 feet more, Murray said around midday Tuesday.

“Progress has been too slow, too slow,” Murray said.

Stickler arrived from Washington and said “ongoing seismic activity, bumps, movements of the mountain” had forced rescuers to move slowly.

Before the work was stopped Tuesday, mine shafts were being reinforced with timber and steel beams, and ventilation systems were being repaired, he said.

Stickler would not comment on whether retreat mining caused the collapse but said the practice has been used there to extract coal.

Dynamite to be used
After meeting privately with family members of the miners, Murray outlined plans to bulldoze a mountain path and erect a seismic listening device outside the mine that could reveal whether any men were alive.

He said that once the device was in place, crews would set off dynamite, a sign to miners to tap the ceiling with hammers.

Four miners escaped, but they were not in the same area as their trapped brethren, according to Murray.

During a rambling and often angry news conference, Murray lashed out at The Associated Press and Fox News for suggesting the men were retreat mining at the time.

“The damage in the mine was totally unrelated to any retreat mining,” Murray said. “The pillars were not being removed here at the time of the accident. There are eight solid pillars around where the men are right now.”

On Monday, seismograph stations recorded seismic waves of 3.9 magnitude, and authorities briefly thought the ground shaking was an earthquake.

Murray Energy insisted the cave-in was caused by an earthquake, saying the ground shaking was in a spot 3,500 feet deeper than where the miners were. The company also claimed the shaking lasted four minutes.

But the University of Utah Seismograph Stations and Jim Dewey of the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver said it appeared the trembling was caused by the cave-in.

Mine collapses have a seismic signature distinct from earthquakes because they tend to occur at shallower depths and at different frequencies.

The first motions of the Utah disturbance indicated a downward movement consistent with a collapse, scientists said. If it had been an earthquake, it would have produced up and down motions on the seismograms, they said.

Three Mexican citizens among missing
Little was known about the six miners; only one has been identified. The Mexican Consulate in Salt Lake City said three of the men are Mexican citizens.

In Huntington, 10 miles from the mine, residents were anxious for news, and the strain could be seen in their somber looks. The families of the trapped miners were sequestered at a junior high school in Huntington, about six miles from the mine, and police stood guard on the grounds.

LaRena Collards, 71, was making cakes for families of the trapped miners, just as she did in 1984 when a fire killed 27 people at another mine.

“You just ask the Lord to bless the families and give them the strength to get through this,” Collards said.

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