May take three days to reach trapped miners

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By CHRISTOPHER SMART
Salt Lake Tribune
Wednesday, August 08, 2007

An angry coal mining executive acknowledged today that he is frustrated by the ineffectiveness of efforts thus far to rescue six men trapped by a cave-in inside central Utah's Crandall Canyon Mine.

Robert Murray, whose Murray Energy Corp. owns the Emery County mine, also acknowledged: "I don't know whether these miners are alive or dead, only the Lord knows that."

After the failure of Monday's efforts to tunnel through to the six from a parallel shaft, Murray also said it now appeared rescue would not occur until week's end. Among the several methods being used to reach the miners is the helicopter-aided drilling of a two-inch wide shaft through which listening devices can be dropped and air pumped.

"It will take three days, if everything goes right, to get to these miners. . . . At that time, we will know if they are alive or dead."

Murray, his voice occasionally breaking, also again insisted it was an earthquake _ not his mine's operations _ that had triggered the cave in early Monday morning. Scientists at the

University of Utah Seismograph Stations have suggested their sensors' 3.9-magnitude reading actually was caused by the cave-in.

"This was caused by an earthquake, not something that Murray Energy . . . did," the mining magnate declared. "It was a natural disaster, an earthquake. . . . There seems to be a lot of speculation by some of you in the (news) media that this was not an earthquake."

Murray repeatedly interrupted his morning news conference, which had already started more than 90 minutes late, to demand that a news helicopter overhead be ordered out of the area by law enforcement officials.

He also chastized the Associated Press, Fox News and others for what he insisted was inaccurate reporting, based on comments from "lackeys" for those trying to unionize his non-union mine.

One of those sources that drew Murray's ire was Davitt McAteer, former head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. In an interview Tuesday afternoon, he told CNN that federal agencies knew that retreat mining had been done at the Crandall Canyon site. "(But) no one has ever said retreat mining is the cause of this cave-in," McAteer stressed, while adding that mine safety studies do indicate the practice is more dangerous than other forms of removing coal.

Murray steadfastly denied that method was in use by the trapped miners. But clearly, it was a grimmer Murray who addressed reporters Tuesday after meeting with families of the trapped miners.

"I've had men die in my arms. I've been trapped in mines," he said, noting he had spent half a century in the coal mining business. "There are two scenarios. . . . The shock of the earthquake and the concussion killed them, that's one scenario. The other scenario is that they are very much alive and we are going to rescue them."

Murray vowed that, "I will not leave this mine until there has been a rescue, dead or alive."

Earlier Tuesday, Emery County sheriff's deputies were seen and heard warning miners coming off shift not to talk to reporters. However, one miner, Carl Grissman of Price, acknowledged rescuers were becoming increasingly worried about the fate of their colleagues trapped inside the Crandall Mine.

"It depends on who you talk to," he said when asked what crews' mood was. "I would not say good," he added, when asked his own feelings on the progress of rescue efforts.

Julie Jones, a Huntington city councilwoman whose son, Elam, is involved with the rescue efforts, said her son told her late Monday that "miners were down on their knees digging with their hands to get those guys out.

"He says, 'It's scary, Mom. But I have to be with them; I have to do my job,'" Jones added.

As many as a dozen mine rescue teams continued to work on various schemes to reach the miners today.

Late Monday, though, the most promising approach to retrieving the miners failed. Rescue workers had breached a seal on an old tunnel Monday afternoon that they hoped would bring them within 100 feet of the miners. But their attempt to take a parallel tunnel deep into the mountain and then cut across the soft coal wall had to be scrapped when workers found multiple areas where the parallel tunnel had caved in.

It marked a dispiriting end to a day that began early Monday, when the collapse sent four miners scurrying for their lives and left six others trapped about 3.4 miles and 1,500 feet deep from the mine entrance. The workers have not been heard from since 2 a.m. Monday.

Murray, CEO and president of the Murray Energy, acknowledged the setback but insisted he remains hopeful.

"Progress has been too slow, too slow," Murray said Tuesday. "We've only moved 310 feet closer to these miners from where we started. We only achieved 50 feet (Monday night) because of geotechnical problems and technical problems that forced us out of the mine."

Four of the trapped miners are Latino, three of those Mexican, said Mexican Consulate Salvador Jemenez, who also was at the scene today to confer with mine officials.

"We want to make sure they do everything to bring them back safe," he said.