HUNTINGTON, Utah (AP) — The effort to find six coal miners trapped in a cave-in took a disheartening turn yesterday when a narrow hole drilled more than 1,800 feet down into the earth yielded no sounds of life and barely any oxygen.
Rescuers refused to give up, clinging to the possibility that the drill they used to try to penetrate the cavity where the men were thought to be trapped in Monday’s collapse may have missed its mark and punched into a neighboring chamber.
“Now there’s no reason to lose hope. There are certainly possibilities that these miners are still alive,” said Richard Stickler, head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.
The mother of missing miner Don Erickson refused to be discouraged.
“We keep getting these other bits and pieces that are encouraging, so we’re going to hold onto that for now,” said the 69-year-old woman, who asked that her name not be used because she did not want to receive calls.
The six-man mining crew was a ragtag combination of personalities — longtime residents and recent Mexican immigrants; grizzled veteran miners and a rookie who had put in just weeks on the job; a “bullheaded” older guy and a “sweet, sweet” young man.
Rescuers had hoped to get at least some sign of life through the 2½-inch-wide air hole drilled into the Crandall Canyon mine over the past several days.
But a tiny microphone lowered down the hole picked up no sounds, and initial positive oxygen readings plunged to levels so low they were incapable of supporting life.
Mr. Stickler cautioned that the small drill may have drifted on its long descent through the hard sandstone and entered the sealed chamber of an old work area next to where the miners were thought to have been.
Rescuers continued using a bigger, more accurate drill to bore a nearly 9-inch-wide hole through which a sophisticated camera, food and water could be lowered.
Separately, rescuers tried to make their way horizontally toward the miners, struggling to push through the rubble in the mine shaft. But it could take another week to reach the men and bring them out.
The mining company has not identified the miners, but according to family, friends and other sources they are: Carlos Payan, in his 20s; Kerry Allred, 57; Manuel Sanchez, 41; Brandon Phillips, 24; Luis Hernandez, age unknown; and Mr. Erickson, 50.
In a separate incident in Indiana yesterday, three men being carried in a construction bucket fell out and plunged 500 feet down an air shaft at a coal mine, killing them, authorities said.
No one else was injured, said George Zugel, director of safety and health for Frontier-Kemper Constructors Inc., which is building the 550-foot vertical ventilation shaft at the Gibson County Coal mine in southern Indiana.
The open-top bucket was somehow upset as it was descending into the shaft, and the three men fell to the bottom, Mr. Zugel said.
The three bodies were removed from the shaft, Gibson County Sheriff Allen Harmon said. The victims’ names are being withheld until their families could be notified.
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