Underground Search for Miners on Hold

Aug. 17, 2007 — -- Federal mine officials have indefinitely suspended the underground search for six men trapped in a Utah coal mine after a second cave-in Thursday night killed three rescue workers and injured six others.

The fatal collapse occurred as a rescue team slowly dug through underground debris in the main mine shaft toward the area where officials believe the trapped men may be. There has been so sign of life since the Crandall Canyon mine originally caved in 11 days ago on Aug. 6.

"Some of the miners were buried and we had to remove two or three feet of material to get them out," Richard Stickler, head of the federal government's Mine Safety and Health Administration, said at an afternoon press conference.

Around 8:30 p.m. EDT Thursday night, Stickler said, the right rib of the mine shaft gave way due to a "mountain bump" -- underground seismic activity that can knock material from the mine walls. Thirty feet of debris took out the rescue effort, Stickler said, breaking 40-ton pieces of machinery in half and destroying the ground support system that had been put in place to assist in the underground rescue.

Additional rescue workers had to enter the mine to help the men caught in Thursday night's collapse. One of the men who died, Stickler said, was a federal mine safety employee. Three men remained hospitalized as of the press conference.

Work trying to reach the trapped miners underground will not continue until federal officials assemble ground support system experts to help determine the safest course of action.

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman described the three men who died Thursday as "selfless" and heroic. Huntsman also, however, cautioned against moving forward with additional underground efforts until the rescue site is stabilized.

"Let us ensure that we have no more injuries," Huntsman said. "We have suffered enough as a state."

Dangerous conditions have jeopardized the rescue effort since the initial collapse. Before Thursday night's cave-in, rescuers had only cleared 826 feet of debris in the main mine shaft over nine days — leaving them with 1,200 feet to go to reach the area where the miners are presumably trapped. Several times, seismic activity put rescue efforts on temporary hold. On the first day of the rescue effort, a bump shook the mountain, pushing the effort back 300 feet.