Rescuers killed at Utah mine :(

[TEX]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070817/..._mine_collapse

HUNTINGTON, Utah - The search for six miners missing deep underground was abruptly halted after a second cave-in killed three rescue workers and injured at least six others who were trying to tunnel through rubble to reach them.

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It was a devastating turn for the families of the six men trapped in the Aug. 6 collapse at the Crandall Canyon mine and for the relatives of those trying to rescue them. It's not known if the trapped miners are alive.

"It just feels like a really hard blow to swallow after all we've been through the last week and a half and everyone trying to hope in their own individual way," Huntington Mayor Hilary Gordon said in telephone interview Friday with CNN's "American Morning."

All rescue workers were evacuated from the mine Thursday evening and work underground was stopped. Asked if the search would be suspended, "that's something to be determined," said Rich Kulczewski, a U.S. Department of Labor spokesman.

The cave-in at 6:39 p.m. was believed to be caused by what seismologists call a "mountain bump," in which shifting ground forces chunks of rock from the walls. Seismologists say such a bump caused the Aug. 6 cave-in that trapped the six men more than 3 miles inside the central Utah mine.

The force from the bump registered a 1.6 at the University of Utah seismograph stations in Salt Lake City, said university spokesman Lee Siegel. It was the 20th reading at the university since the original collapse, which registered a 3.9 on Aug. 6.

"These events seem to be related to ongoing settling of the rock mass following the main event," Siegel said Friday morning. "I don't think I'm going too far to say that this mountain is collapsing in slow motion."

The initial collapse led to the frenetic effort by rescuers to dig through the mine toward the men and drill narrow holes atop the mountain in an attempt to learn their whereabouts and perhaps drop food and water.

It was not immediately clear where the rescuers were working or what they were doing when Thursday's bump occurred.

Underground, rescuers had advanced only 826 feet in nine days. Before Thursday's cave-in, workers still had about 1,200 feet to go to reach the area where they believe the trapped men had been working.

Mining officials said conditions in the mine were treacherous, and they were frequently forced to halt digging because of seismic activity.

A day after the initial collapse, the rescuers were pushed back 300 feet when a bump shook the mountain and filled the tunnel with rubble.

The digging had been set back Wednesday night, when a coal excavating machine was half buried by rubble by seismic shaking. Another mountain bump interrupted work briefly Thursday morning.

"The seismic activity underground has just been relentless. The mountain is still alive, the mountain is still moving and we cannot endanger the rescue workers as we drive toward these trapped miners," said Bob Murray, chief of Murray Energy Corp., the co-owner and operator of the Crandall Canyon mine.

On top of the mountain, rescuers were drilling a fourth hole on Thursday, aiming for a spot where devices called "geophones" had detected mysterious vibrations in the mountain. Both Kulczewski, the Labor Department spokesman, and Gordon, the mayor, said they believed that work continued after the accident.

"They're looking right now at finishing the drilling on the fourth hole, going through, and as I understood, that they're going to just be drilling the holes and ... putting the camera through and looking at these different ways to get in there, maybe through the top," Gordon told CNN. "But I don't think that they're going to be doing any mining down in the bottom again."

No details were available early Friday about the official cause of the rescuers' deaths.

One of the killed workers was an inspector for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, agency spokesman Dirk Fillpot said. He did not know his name or have information about the other victims.

Injuries to the survivors ranged from cuts and scrapes to head and chest trauma.

Six of the injured were taken to Castleview Hospital in Price. One rescuer died there, one was airlifted to a Provo hospital, and three were treated overnight and released Friday morning, said Jeff Manley, the hospital's chief executive. A sixth was still being treated, in serious condition with back injuries.

The second dead worker passed away at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, hospital spokeswoman Janet Frank said. Another worker there was in serious condition with head trauma but was alert, she said.

The third death was confirmed by Kulczewski, the Labor Department spokesman.

Gov. Jon Huntsman flew to the hospital in Price early Friday and planned to meet with mine safety officials later in the day to discuss the future of the rescue operation.

Huntsman said he did not want underground tunneling to resume, but that the decision rested with the MSHA.

"We're pushing for that to cease right now unless MSHA and others can guarantee that it can continue safely," he said. "Whatever happens, we're going to want to ensure that it is done safely and that may take a little while.

"We as a state don't want any more injuries," he added. "We've had enough."

Before the latest cave-in, officials said the third of three holes drilled reached an intact chamber with potentially breathable air.

Video images were obscured by water running down that bore hole, but officials said they could see beyond it to an undamaged chamber in the rear of the mine. It yielded no sign the miners had been there.

Murray said it would take at least two days for the latest drill to reach its target, in an area where a seismic listening device detected a "noise" or vibration in 1.5-second increments and lasting for five minutes. The drilling began Thursday.

Officials say it's impossible to know what caused the vibrations and clarified the limits of the technology.

The geophone can pinpoint the direction of the source of the disturbance, but it can't tell whether it came from within the mine, the layers of rock above the mine or from the mountain's surface, said MSHA chief Richard Stickler.

The "noise," a term he used a day before, wasn't anything officials could hear, Stickler said. "Really, it's not sounds but vibrations."

Officials stressed that the motion picked up by the geophones could be unrelated to the mine, even as they drilled the new hole in an effort to uncover

[Deep South Cruisers]

saw that this morning

RIP

[gotmuddy]

Originally Posted by Deep South Cruisers

saw that this morning

RIP

I heard about it last night, I feel for the families of the miners even more now because they will feel guilty about the rescue people dying.

[Roc Doc]

This fully sucks. How long until they turn it into a permenant tomb?

RIP

[Dieselmh]

Fuck.

[Mo]

everytime I hear or read something about this, I'm reminded of the song Big Bad John, by Jimmy Dean

Ev'ry mornin' at the mine you could see him arrive
He stood six foot six and weighed two forty five
Kinda broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hip
And everybody knew ya didn't give no lip to Big John.
(Big John, Big John) Big Bad John (Big John)

Nobody seemed to know where John called home
He just drifted into town and stayed all alone
He didn't say much, kinda quiet and shy
And if you spoke at all, you just said "Hi" to Big John.

Somebody said he came from New Orleans
Where he got in a fight over a Cajun Queen
And a crashin' blow from a huge right hand
Sent a Loosiana fellow to the Promised Land-Big John
(Big John, Big John) Big Bad John (Big John)

Then came the day at the bottom of the mine
When a timber cracked and men started cryin'
Miners were prayin' and hearts beat fast
And everybody thought that they'd breathed their last-'cept John

Through the dust and the smoke of this man-made hell
Walked a giant of a man that the miners knew well
Grabbed a saggin' timber, gave out with a groan
And like a giant oak tree he just stood there alone-Big John
(Big John, Big John) Big Bad John (Big John)

And with all of his strength he gave a mighty shove
Then a miner yelled out "There's a light up above!"
And twenty men scrambled from a would-be grave
Now there's only one left down there to save-Big John

With jacks and timbers they started back down
Then came that rumble way down in the ground
And then smoke and gas belched out of that mine
Everybody knew it was the end of the line for Big John
(Big John, Big John) Big Bad John (Big John)

Now they never reopened that worthless pit
They just placed a marble stand in front of it
These few words are written on that stand
At the bottom of this mine lies a hell of man, Big John
(Big John, Big John) Big Bad John (Big John)

[mtnbikeboy]

I don't understand why they didn't go after this miners with the same equipment they used here:
http://www.quecreekrescue.org/rescue.asp

edit: more here http://www.post-gazette.com/localnew...mineindex9.asp

[CaryW]

The news idiots were talking last nite about the instability issues. It seems 12 rescuers have quit because of the fear of cave in. It seems they were right.

It sounds like that mountian is tired of having folks in its belly.

[jeep_people]

On the news here in Utah they have said that they can not use the basket system to save the miners because of the depth of the mine. To use those baskets they need a thirty inch hole that would take about 28 to 30 days. At least thats what the word was last night

[naranna]

They've suspended the rescue efforts as of this morning.

I can't imagine what the families are feeling right now.

Underground Search for 6 Miners Suspended Indefinitely