HUNTINGTON, Utah (CNN) -- Rescue workers said they heard a noise Wednesday night -- though it's unclear what it was -- deep inside the Utah mine where six men have been trapped for nine days.


Crandall Canyon coal mine safety officer Bodie Allred, right, is consoled by mine boss Bob Murray.

more photos » "We saw some indication of noise for a period of about five minutes that we have not seen before," said Richard Stickler assistant secretary of labor at the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

"We are not sure what that means but obviously we saw that and we decided to move the 'number four' borehole into that area," he said.

The microphone was lowered into the third bore hole drilled into the mine in the search for the miners. The hole, drilled from a steep mountainside, reached a cavern Wednesday morning where rescuers believe the men may have sought refuge. Rescuers tried to lower a microphone into it, but they couldn't get it all the way down because of a bend in the hole. Rescuers resolved the problem later Wednesday and lowered the microphone which picked up the noises.

Two other holes aimed at another section of the mine have so far yielded no signs of life, but there were some encouraging clues. Although the mine floor was covered with two feet of coal rubble, there was a "survivable space" and breathable air, rescuers said. See photos of the rescue efforts »

Tuesday, overnight, a small "seismic bump" brought the operation to a halt for a short amount of time, according to Stickler.

"The work continues to be slow and difficult," he told reporters during a news conference Wednesday.

The mining company CEO vowed to keep drilling until the miners are found, and he continued to express hope they are alive.

Don't Miss
In depth: Miners trapped
Mine survivor: 'I think I did everything I could'
CEO still hopeful that miners are alive
"There is real reason to believe that," said Bob Murray, president and CEO of Murray Energy.

"From what we have found, the roof is intact. There's been no falls from the seismic activity. There's plenty of water. And depending on the air in the specific areas of the mine and where these miners might have gone, there's plenty of void space to hold the air to keep them alive for weeks," Murray said. Watch Murray explain why there's still reason for hope »

Bodie Allred, whose cousin Kerry Allred is one of the trapped miners, is normally a miner, but his job now is mine rescue supervisor.

"I know that the gentlemen in there know that we are on our way," Allred said Wednesday. "They know damn well that we're doing what we can to get to them and we're going to do it. There is no doubt about it," he added.

Asked if he believed they were alive, Allred said, "Yes, I do. They're very tough men." See the miners' profiles »

Even if the video camera finds the trapped miners alive at the bottom of the third hole, it will be days before they could be brought out. At least 1,100 feet of tunnel -- the only way out -- remain to be cleared of many tons of coal rubble.

The work is made tedious by the need for a team of miners to follow the machine, shoring up the tunnel walls with high-pressure jacks, chain-link fencing and wooden beams along the way.

It's expected to take at least a week -- barring more problems -- before the tunnel is cleared enough to allow a search of the mine area where the six miners were trapped on August 6, rescuers have said.


While Murray continued to insist an earthquake caused the mine collapse and it was not related to mining activity, seismologists at the U.S. Geological Survey have said no earthquake occurred at the mine site. The collapse inside the mine registered a 3.9 magnitude, they said.

Friends and family have identified the trapped men as: Louis Alonso Hernandez, 23; Manuel Sanchez, 41; Kerry Allred, 57; Carlos Payan, in his 20s; Brandon Phillips, 24; and Don Erickson, 50. E-mail to a friend

I've been following this story for a couple of days now. I hope this is it and they are able to find them alive and well and get them out.

__________________
http://nwyc.com/
National Write Your Congressman

No doubt I have seen too many movies, but this bunch seems burdened by this since they keep drilling into areas where the miners are not. Knowing that six men are trapped there, why don't they know where? Wierd, ey?

__________________
Most of the world's crises can be tracked back to the fact that WE HAVE TOO MANY LAWYERS.
---------------------------------------------------
Without women, money would have no meaning......Aristotle Onassis.

I truly hope that they can get to these men soon.

__________________
An informed voter scares the Goverment lackeys.

An American first and always a Conservative.

It is happening too frequently. It seems with today's technology locating them would be easy. Prayers are with the family.

__________________
Ephesians 5:15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyR41JbpL_g

Three Die in Rescue Effort at Utah Mine
By PAUL FOY,AP
Posted: 2007-08-17 07:00:37
Filed Under: Nation News
HUNTINGTON, Utah (Aug. 17) - 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.


Photo Gallery: Families Face New Tragedy

Justin Sullivan, Getty Images An ambulance is seen outside the Crandall Canyon mine Thursday near Hungtington, Utah. At least three rescue workers were killed and six were injured when a seismic "bump" caused a cave-in.
1 of 9
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 six are alive.

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 caused by a mountain bump in which pressure can force chunks of coal from walls of the mine with great force. 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. That 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 down food and water.

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



Powered by AOL Video

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. Kulczewski said he believed that work continued after the accident.

No details were available early Friday about the official cause of the rescuers' deaths. Their identities were not released. 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 Salt Lake City hospital, one was released and three were being treated, said Jeff Manley, the hospital's chief executive.

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.

Utah 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 federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

"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 the source of it.

Associated Press writers Chris Kahn, Alicia A. Caldwell and Jessica Gresko in Huntington, Ed White in Salt Lake City and Jennifer Talhelm in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

__________________
http://nwyc.com/
National Write Your Congressman

When do you call it quits? When do you throw in the towel?

__________________
Ephesians 5:15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyR41JbpL_g

Tough call. How do you tell the family of those miners that there will be no more rescue efforts? How many more lives do risk to save those that might, or might not still be alive?

__________________
http://nwyc.com/
National Write Your Congressman

If it were a family member of mine, I am sure that I would want them to keep going.

__________________
An informed voter scares the Goverment lackeys.

An American first and always a Conservative.

Does the "seismic activity" kind of validate what Murray was saying the original cause was? I remember them saying it was an "earthquake" but then people started focusing on the type of mining. Just curious if the recent activity kind of supports the original stated cause.

Rob; personally, yes I would be horrified if the rescue stopped. But, just as any major catastrophe you have to weight out all the factors involved. In this case, as justme said, possible seismic activity and they have already lost 3 of their rescuers.

Rescuers try to reach 181 Chinese miners
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news...e_N.htm?csp=34

__________________
Ephesians 5:15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyR41JbpL_g