Mine Collapse in Utah Traps Six Men
Updated August 2007: On August 6, 2007 a coal mine collapsed on top of six men trapping them 1,500 feet underground. The coal miners are thought to be in a chamber that is 3.4 miles into the Crandall Canyon mine. The mine is about 140 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Rescue workers were able to get within 1,700 feet of the mine on Monday, and have since advanced 310 more feet. The mine collapse was first thought to have occurred because of a magnitude-4 earthquake, but analysts from the National Earthquake Information Center are now suggesting that the mine collapse actually caused the seismic activity.
All attempts to reach the miners have been unsuccessful, and the chairman of Murray Energy Corp., Robert E. Murray, has said, “We are back to square one underground,” and that there is no way to reach the trapped miners for at least one week. Now rescue workers are putting their efforts into drilling two holes into the mountain so they can make contact with the miners and provide them with food and water.
There have been no signs of life from the workers since the collapse occurred, and rescuers doe not know if the men are dead or alive. Miners are trained to pound with their hammers to let someone know they are alive if an accident occurs. Murray believes if the men are alive, they will have plenty of air and water to survive for several days.
The Canyon Canal mine has had over 300 safety violations since 2004 and has received 32 citations, many of which were serious. One citation received just last month was for not having the required emergency escape routes. Some officials have suggested that the men were using retreat mining, which is where pillars of coal are used to hold up the mine’s roof, and once the area is completely mined workers pull the pillar and take the useful coal, causing a collapse. Murray says these claims are untrue and that, “there are eight solid pillars around where the men are right now.”