Mine Crews Struggle To Drill Relief Holes
Rescue of Six Men Trapped In Utah Mine Is Still Days Away
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Play CBS Video Video All Efforts Focused On Rescue Utah's coal country is working tirelessly to reach six miners trapped in a collapsed mine, but so far little progress has been made. John Blackstone reports.
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Video Miners' Families Pitching In Only On The Web: John Blackstone talks with Julie Jones, who's both mother and wife to miners in Utah, and whose son is part of the rescue effort.
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Video Mine Rescue Needs 3 Days Mine officials say they will need at least three days until the six trapped coal miners in Utah can be reached. Gwen Belton reports.
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Bob Murray, chairman of Murray Energy Corp., spoke about the progress being made in the rescue attempt of six trapped miners on Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007. (KUTV)
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Equipment arrives at the entrance to the Crandall Canyon Mine on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007, northwest of Huntington, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
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Wylee Sherman, 3, touches a sign that his family made in sympathy for the families of the trapped miners at Canyon View Jr. High, where the families are staged in Huntington, Utah, on Aug. 7, 2007. (AP/Deseret Morning News, M. Brandy)
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Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, left, Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, center, and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., at a Aug. 7, 2007, briefing on efforts to rescue six trapped coal miners. (AP/SaltLakeTribune/A.Hartmann)
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Miners head to their vehicle after their shifts trying to rescue six trapped coal miners at the entrance to the Crandall Canyon Mine, northwest of Huntington, Utah, on Aug. 7, 2007. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
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Photo Essay Utah Mine Collapse Six coal miners trapped by cave-in more than 1,500 feet below surface.
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Timeline U.S. Mine Disasters A look at some of the notable U.S. coal mining disasters over the years.
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Interactive Ground Shakers Learn about what triggers an earthquake and get details on some of the world's worst.
The smaller relief hole was 450 feet deep by early Wednesday, Murray said.
"In two days, if they continue this pace, that hole will be down to where we want it to be," Murray said, adding that if the men are still alive "we can provide everything they need, including a toothbrush and a comb, to keep them alive until the underground effort gets to them."
Drilling began Wednesday morning on the larger relief hole, and there was no immediate report on how far the work had gotten.
The Crandall Canyon mine is built into steep sandstone cliffs in the Manti-La Sal National Forest, 140 miles south of Salt Lake City.
The drillers had to be careful to keep the massive drill rig properly aligned while balancing it on the steep side of the mountain.
"If you don't have it aligned properly, you're going to miss your target," said Richard Stickler, head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.
The height of the mountain and the extreme depth of the mine combined to require a lot of drilling.
Said Davis: "I just hope and pray we don't run into problems with broken bits or a broken drill stem."
By contrast, the Quecreek mine in Somerset, Pa., where nine miners became trapped in a flood in 2002, was just 240 feet below ground, and it took rescuers 77 hours to reach the men. The Sago mine in West Virginia, where 12 were killed in an explosion last year, was 260 feet down.
"Drilling through that hard sandstone is going to take a while. In West Virginia and Pennsylvania, it's easier to get to and you don't have to drill as far. Back there drilling a 300-foot hole is a few hours worth of work," said Bob Ferriter, mine safety and health program manager at the Colorado School of Mines. "Here, getting that drilling rig to top of a mesa through that hard sandstone, that's a more monumental task."
Murray, 67, says he went to work as coal miner at 16 to support his parents. He is now one of the biggest coal mine operators in the country. At news conferences he has been combative, attacking anyone who questions his version of events, reports Blackstone.
"Everything that we control has happened the way I said it would," he told reporters. "Everything beyond our control has not happened the way I said it would."
He spoke to reporters Wednesday after meeting with the miners' families at a school in Huntington, 10 miles away. At one point, he left the building, paced outside and returned.
Maria Buenrostro, the sister of trapped miner Manuel Sanchez, 41, said Murray got angry with relatives' questions and walked out. She also said there was no interpreter for three Spanish-speaking families.
"We want the truth, that's all we want," said Buenrostro, 40. "If there's nothing that they can do about it, you know, just tell us so we know what to expect when they bring them out."
Murray said the families had thanked him.
"You can't make everybody happy," he said. "In a trauma like this, as the days wear on, tensions become more and more. I have been truthful with them."
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 81 CommentsEvilBible.com is Dead
Large portions of evilbible.com have been considered, dissected and declared
fallacious on very many levels.
Two examples of this fact are as follows:
Whilst besmirching the Bible for allegedly commanding rape evilbible.com,
for some odd reason, neglects to mention the most relevant biblical text
related to the biblical view of and law about rape. Why this omission? Who
knows, but it would certainly have gotten in the way of a good session of
emotive expression of prejudice-it would have discredited evilbible.com to
reference this most important text. Indeed, those annoying little facts have
an annoying way of getting in the way of good fallacious assertions.
Whilst besmirching the Bible for allegedly commanding human sacrifice
evilbible.com, for some odd reason, neglects to mention that the Bible does
not command but condemns human sacrifice. Evilbible.com, for some odd
reason, neglects to mention that when the Bible reports that human
sacrifices did take place they were carried out by Gentile Pagans who were
not worshiping the God of the Bible but various false gods. When "Jews" were
performing human sacrifices it was only when they turned away from the God
of the Bible and joined Gentile Pagans in worshiping various false gods.
Yet, in typical militant activist atheist fashion, evilbible.com does not
condemn Gentile Pagans but only condemns the Jews.
Further evidence of this is found at this URL:
http://atheismisdead.blogspot.com/2009/07/evilbiblecom-is-dead.html
Now its Reagans fault and he is dead. You people are fools.
This Neocon is proud of this president and this Neocon is glad you are not in government, Bye the way, fool, I don't come from the south and I think you are a fool.
Back to my original point NEOCON! Beaurocrats that have come into government since 1981 care about nothing more than their retirement. These self-centered pigs, such as YOURSELF, could care less about the regulations put in place to level the playing field between big and small business, but only care about their retirement! Only a moron educated in the US public education system since Ronald Reagan destroyed public education in America would still be confused by my statements, such as yourself, an oblivious NEOCON NAZI LOVER!
Thanks the Gods for NEOCONS such as yourself, who's published ignorance guarantees the Democrats will not only win the presidency in 2008,
This Neocon is proud of this president and this Neocon is glad you are not in government, then we me a commni state. But this facist is still glad George and Dick are in the white house.
Bye the way, fool, I don't come from the south and I think you are a fool.
Thank God for Fred Thompson. He will be the savior of this country. He is the only one who can beat hillary and that guy who wants to bomb pakistan.
Thanks the Gods for NEOCONS such as yourself, who's published ignorance guarantees the Democrats will not only win the presidency in 2008, but will also control the US Congress for at least the next 2 generations. KEEP IT UP NEOCONS! after 26 years the USA is finally seeing you folk ro what you all are: AMERICA'S SOUTHERN INBRED'S!
The latter, spinless beaurocrats only concerned about their retirement, is what we get with a conservative fascist gocvernment.
Only a SOUHTERN NEOCON would try to refute my remarks, which are based upon facts, the number one enemy of the neocon FASCIST slim machine of hate and slander towards any facts that get in your way. You're an obvious self-centered moron, same as all of you Group Of Pigs! Nowhere did I infer your hero GW Bush in my comments. All of you NEOCONS are fascists, not just the pigs that you elect to public office. If you hate America so much, GET OUT, YOU SELF-CENTERED FASCCIST PIG!
Another stupid lib remark:
. The latter, spinless beaurocrats only concerned about their retirement, is what we get with a conservative fascist gocvernment.
Did Georgie and Dickie do "pearl harbor" as well ?
You people on the left are stupid and sick as well. Yet somehow, these events are always pointed towards Georgie ! Amazing!
This is the USA, if you want to live and work here then freaking LEARN ENGLISH!!! I'm tired of these moron foreigners coming in here expecting US to change street signs, print bi-lingual krap for them and otherwise bow down to them because they refuse to LEARN English.
The interpretor shold tell those 3 familes in Spanish; "go learn English and then we will fill you in on the mine accident"
mormonman1
Wouldn't work, that is why corporations exist- to shield the people in it from personal liability- you have to sue "the company" "the corporation" which is limited. What does a mining company own? some used machines that are only good for mining use, trucks and a hole in the ground.
Would be like trying to get blood from a stone, or suing a 10 year old kid for $50 million.
Posted by jetlizhan"
OH THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! I am very relieved to be rid of you and your religion in here.
www.zeitgeistmovie.com
www.atheists.org
www.evilbible.com
Yet we know not the personal hell in there.
While their loved ones gather for answers
That man feeds them not what they wish to hear.
So do they toil on or make small talk.
While people enjoy the fruits of their labours
Do we ever thank the labours for what thay do.
May be we should.
Will it be joy for the families or their tears.
Let's get them gents out alive.
oil well and gold mine in his backyard tract
house in kalamazoo, michigan, begins oil
company and gold mining company right then
and there, with offices in his garage.
civilization is of the devil. shuttle launch
just obliterated a lotta the atmsophere.
but the 'smart' fools fly on. we exploit
this planet, leave it and it is a cinder
of ash behind us. forward ho?
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