Underground Utah Mine Search Suspended

It was a chaotic scene only too familiar to the small mining community: Family members gathering to find out the fate of loved ones after word of a terrifying accident.

Maria Lerma was desperate for news of her husband, saying, "You don't know how agonizing it is for me."

He wasn't hurt.

But three people lost their lives trying to rescue others trapped underground at the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah, when a tunnel collapsed around them. Killed in the accident were Dale "Bird" Black, a cousin of one of the trapped miners; young miner Brandon Kimber; and a unnamed federal mine inspector.

Robert Richardson, a friend of Black's, told CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes, "I know he would have been in no other place than trying to get his brothers out of there."

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said, "These men died as heroes. I can think of no better way to express your love for a fellow human being than to risk your life for someone else's."

The search for the still-missing miners was abruptly halted with a major portion of the search suspended indefinitely after the second cave-in. The initial cave-in occurred Aug. 6.

Officials said Friday that they have "suspended indefinitely the underground portion of this effort," though the surface part of operation will continue.

"Is there any possible way we can continue this underground operation and provide safety for the rescue workers? At this point we don't have an answer," said Richard Stickler, head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

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.

On Thursday, a huge pillar of coal holding up the ceiling exploded, blasting across the entry, and blowing out the ground support.

Experts say this was a tragedy you could have seen coming.

Robert Ferriter of the Colorado School of Mines told Hughes, "They didn't leave enough in there to support the roof and the pillars … The pillars became overstressed."

Hughes reports that an area near where the original trapped miners were working had severe roof problems just this past March.

CBS News has obtained a memo which mine operators received from Agapito Associates, a consulting firm, in April saying, "Poor roof conditions" had caused a "large bump ... resulting in heavy damage to the entries."

Even so, federal mine safety officials gave the go-ahead to mine 900 feet away.

"When that plan was submitted and these miners started operating under that plan, they were basically put in immediate danger," said Bob Butero, Western regional director of the United Mine Workers of America.

When asked for a response, Stickler said, "At this point, until our investigation is done, I don't know that we can answer that."

The latest tragedy came on the 11th day of the effort to find six miners who have been confined at least 1,500 feet below ground at the mine. It was unknown if the six were alive.

"The best way we can honor their lives is to stay strong and to stay focused and to stay unified," Gov. Huntsman said at a news conference.

He said the state would help federal official in the investigation into the collapse. "We have questions, too, and we want answers to those questions. We want to make sure that the lives that were lost last night were not in vain," he said.

Early Friday, federal officials met with several family members of the still-trapped miners. State Rep. Brad King, who represents central Utah's coal belt, attended the briefing and said government and mine officials did not say what their next step was.

The force from Thursday's "bump" 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.

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.

The digging had been set back Wednesday night when a coal excavating machine was half buried by rubble from 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.

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.

One injured man 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.

The president of the United Mine Workers of America blamed the mine's owners and federal officials for the latest tragedy.

"Despite misleading and self-serving comments to the contrary, this event and the previous tragedy were not caused by an earthquake or some other act of God. These miners' lives were jeopardized because of the acts of men," Cecil E. Roberts said Friday in a statement from union headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia.

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 is impossible to know what caused the vibrations and stressed that the motion picked up by the geophones could be unrelated to the mine.