Day 7: Waiting for Answers

Aug 12, 10:40 AM

Current Headlines: By Pat Reavy, Ben Winslow and Jens Dana Deseret Morning News

HUNTINGTON, Emery County -- There is still no answer to the most important, the most desperate question:

What happened to Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Arturo "Manuel" Sanchez?

Attempts to make contact through an 8 5/8-inch hole drilled through a mountainside have been met only with silence.

"It's heartbreaking," said Mike Glasson, a mine engineer who banged on the drill with a hammer three times, the code for miners that someone is trying to reach them.

About 3 a.m. Saturday, rescue crews drilled through a mountain to reach the six miners trapped nearly 1,900 feet underground in a collapsed part of the Crandall Canyon Mine. It was another frustrating day of slow progress and few results.

"It's been a very slow and difficult process," said Richard Stickler, the assistant U.S. Labor Secretary over the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Rescuers say they are not giving up. By 8:15 a.m. Saturday, crews began dropping a camera into the hole, hoping it would reveal more about what happened to the men.

The good news was that crews found 5 1/2 feet of head room inside the cavern and a sizable amount of drinkable water. Yet there was still no sign of whether the six men are alive, dead or even there.

The camera was also not working well. Only the vertical part of it was operating. Rescuers were not able to get a good horizontal look at the mine shaft. When the camera is working fully, it should be able to see 100 feet into the mine and will have illumination. The Department of Defense has flown in additional sensory equipment, MSHA officials said.

A pair of rescue capsules, which can raise or lower a person out of a mine, have been brought to the site. However, should the cages need to be used, mine officials said they would have to drill a hole big enough to accommodate them. That could take 17-20 days.

Late Saturday, federal mine safety authorities said the miners are believed to be in an area measuring roughly 475 feet by 260 feet. It extends from the beginning of the 8 5/8-inch hole, drilled by rescuers, to the working face of the mine.

'Same old things'

The video shot by the camera was flown by a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter to Huntington Junior High School, where family members of the trapped miners have been anxiously waiting for any developments. They were shown the video.

"The families have been remarkably strong. We've prayed with them, we've cried with them," Stickler said. "We haven't been able to give them a lot of positive information."

The families, however, appeared to be growing frustrated with the information -- or the lack of information -- they were getting.

"They keep telling us the same old things," said Terry Erickson, the brother of trapped miner Don Erickson.

By Saturday evening, crews were working to construct a steel lining stretching the length of the 8 5/8-inch hole, about 1,868 feet. Once that was done, the camera was to be cleaned and lowered into the mine again.

A 2 1/2-inch hole drilled nearby is being used to pump compressed air into the mine in an attempt to raise the oxygen levels within that area. Air samples taken from that hole have indicated that there is not enough oxygen to sustain human life. The hole is 130 feet from the 8 5/8-inch one.

Underground efforts

Bob Murray plopped himself down on a water cooler in front of the Emery County sheriff's RV without saying a word. The mine owner looked drained, exhausted, defeated.

"I'm just tired," he said.

Murray admitted to being frustrated and disappointed with the slow pace of the rescue effort but said no mistakes have been made.

Underground, rescuers are digging frantically to reach the collapsed cavern. So far, Murray said, they have dug nearly 650 of the 1,900 or so feet needed to get from the main entry to where the miners are believed to be. Murray has estimated it will be four or five days before they reach the trapped miners.

Stickler said the debris piles that crews are having to drill through came from the walls, not the roof of the mine. On Saturday, a cable sled used by miners was discovered, buried in the rubble.

"That means we're getting closer to where the miners were when we find machinery," Murray said.

'Our 6'

The miners were in the middle of a 12-hour shift inside the Crandall Canyon Mine early Monday when it collapsed. Seismologists said the collapse was an event so powerful, it registered 3.9 on the Richter scale. Murray insists an earthquake caused the collapse.

Since then, the six trapped men are believed to have been in darkness. It is unknown if they are alive or dead. Prayers and messages of hope from around the world are flooding this area, with wishes of a safe rescue. In the community of Huntington, signs for "Our 6" are everywhere.

On Saturday night, hundreds turned out for a prayer vigil at an LDS meetinghouse. Funds have also been set up to help the miners' families at Zions Bank and Huntington City Hall.

Luis Hernandez's uncle, Tomas, said the family is praying and holding out for hope for Luis, who he said is a good man who loves to play soccer. "I just hope that they bring him out alive," he said through a translator.

On Saturday, the son of one of the trapped miners and the brother of another were taken back to the Crandall Canyon Mine to view rescue efforts. As they have done since the ordeal began, the family members brief their relatives on the latest developments in front of mine officials and federal authorities.

The families have been on an emotional roller coaster, said those who have been close to them throughout the ordeal.

"It was sad," Emery County Sheriff Lamar Guymon told the Deseret Morning News after a meeting with the families. "As it is every time. Until they get something positive, it's going to be about the same."

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com; bwinslow@desnews.com; jdana@desnews.com

(c) 2007 Deseret News (Salt Lake City). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.