Mine Exec: "We're Going To Get Them"

(CBS/AP)  Hundreds of rescuers broke through walls of rock Monday in a desperate race to reach six coal miners trapped 1,500 feet below ground by a cave-in so powerful authorities initially thought it was an earthquake.

Hours after the collapse, which did not appear related to an explosion, searchers had been unable to contact the miners and could not say whether they were dead or alive. If they survived, a mine executive said, they could have enough air and water to last several days.

"We're going to get them," said Robert E. Murray, chairman of Murray Energy Corp. of Cleveland, a part owner of the Crandall Canyon mine. "There is nothing on my mind right now except getting those miners out."

The mining crew was believed to be about four miles from the mine entrance. Rescuers were working to free the men by drilling into the mine vertically from the mountaintop and horizontally from the side, Murray said. Officials estimated that drilling vertically could take three days.

If they are able to open an old mine shaft, Murray said, rescuers believe they can get within 100 feet of where the men are trapped.

"The idea is to get a hole into where they are," Murray said. "They could be in a chamber 1,000 feet long or they could be dead. We just don't know right now."

The miners were engaged in "retreat mining," one of the riskiest and increasingly rare forms of coal extraction, which involves burrowing into the vein, leaving pillars of coal to support the roof, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone. Once they've exhausted the area, miners retreat, collecting the coal pillars as they go and allowing the roof to fall in a "planned collapse."

Davitt McAteer, a former federal state mine official, did a study showing that retreat mining causes a unusually high percentage of roof falls and fatalities and predicts this collapse will lead to a review, reports CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews.

Doug Johnson, director of corporate services at an affiliated company, UtahAmerican Energy, said rescuers had made "decent progress," but they were not much closer to the men.

Relatives of the miners waited for news at a nearby senior center. Many of the relatives don't speak English, so Huntington Mayor Hilary Gordon hugged them, put her hands over her heart and then clasped them together to let them know she was praying for them, she said.

"Past experience tells us these things don't go very well," said Gordon, whose husband is a former miner.

Federal mine safety inspectors, who have issued more than 300 citations against the mine since January 2004, are also on hand to help oversee the search.

Murray said no expense would be spared to save the men. The company had enlisted the help of 200 employees and four rescue crews, and brought in all available equipment from around the state.

The mine is built into a mountain in the rugged Manti-La Sal National Forest, 140 miles south of Salt Lake City, in a sparsely populated area.

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[nekodoshi]

Hey, I lived in Utah in Orangeville, just 15 minutes from Huntington where the collapse has occuredm for the first 13 years of my life, and my father has been a coal miner for over 24 years.

In case you're wondering, "retreat" mining is the practice where pillars left in areas that have been carved out by the longwall machines for their coal are purposely knocked down to cause a tunnel to collapse once the coal seam in that area has been depleted. My father has worked in those kind of mines before, and when I asked him about the experience, he only responded that "it was a blast", hopefully no pun intended.

Was it an earthquake that caused the collapse? It's possible, Emery county has always been a hotbed of seismic activity, but only on a very small scale, although there have been much more noticible quakes before. But odds are the seismographs were picking up on the collapse.

Can all six of them survive? Since the revised rules for mining were passed, it's very possible that they will. Most people in huntington that I knew were camping men, who knew survival skills back and forth, and they won't panic, they'll all hold out without a doubt. But it'll take at least three days for them to be reached, I can garuntee all of you that.

[nekodoshi]

Hey, I lived in Utah in Orangeville, just 15 minutes from Huntington where the collapse has occuredm for the first 13 years of my life, and my father has been a coal miner for over 24 years.

In case you're wondering, "retreat" mining is the practice where pillars left in areas that have been carved out by the longwall machines for their coal are purposely knocked down to cause a tunnel to collapse once the coal seam in that area has been depleted. My father has worked in those kind of mines before, and when I asked him about the experience, he only responded that "it was a blast", hopefully no pun intended.

Was it an earthquake that caused the collapse? It's possible, Emery county has always been a hotbed of seismic activity, but only on a very small scale, although there have been much more noticible quakes before. But odds are the seismographs were picking up on the collapse.

Can all six of them survive? Since the revised rules for mining were passed, it's very possible that they will. Most people in huntington that I knew were camping men, who knew survival skills back and forth, and they won't panic, they'll all hold out without a doubt. But it'll take at least three days for them to be reached, I can garuntee all of you that.

[gr8tfulmo]

I am getting a much different interpretation from the CEO Robert E. Murray interview this am ---- He has backed up his statement with a press release stating that there was NO RETREAT MINING, but PRIMARY MINING. Additionally, this event was caused by the EARTHQAUKE. It is evident by his remainder at the scene & compasionate statements that his concern is to get the miners out as quickly as possible.

[rfcnj68]

It is another reason this type of mining activity should be banned. And if a mining company is cited that many times in such a short period they should be shut down until these problems are corrected. I hope for the families the men come out okay.

[bobgee_1999]

d33pthroat1:

Thanks for your comment. You saved me the effort.

[d33pthroat1]

May the Lord be with these men if they are still alive. I pray for them and their families.
Posted by Boston1954

If the Lord wasn't with these men before the mine collapse, what makes you think He will be there now?

Look, bad things happen and good things happen. Why do people thank Him for the good but fail to blame Him for preventing the bad. Either hold Him responsible for both or admit that the Lord has nothing to with either.

[radiob-2009]

Posted by mpville72

Apparently you do not understand sarcasm.

[mpville72]

George?
Yes D I C K
Why did you stop holding the support beams?
My arms were getting tired and I had to take a call.
George
Yes D I C K
You better make some telephone calls as soon as you get out of the cave. People are trapped there.Bring some rain to the midwest once you are out also.

Posted by radiob at 06:53 PM : Aug 06, 2007

RADIOB?
Yes Mpville72
WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID?
UMMM.....I don't know?
EXACTLY!!

[dcbriefing]

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