HUNTINGTON, Utah, Aug. 21 - On Monday officials indefinitely stopped efforts to save six coal miners as a group of mining experts concluded that the area where the men were trapped was structurally unstable and would probably collapse again. The families of the Crandall Canyon miner’s aren’t the only ones raising questions about the handling of the rescue effort
Robert E. Murray, chief executive of the Murray Energy Corporation, co-owner of the mine, said hopes of finding anyone alive were dim, a message he said he had relayed to relatives of the miners.
The miners were trapped on Aug. 6 in the Crandall Canyon Mine, and efforts to reach them came to a halt on Thursday, after the tunnel that rescuers were attempting to dig toward them caved in, killing three more men.
“It’s an unsafe activity,” Murray Energy Corp. lawyer Chris Van Bever said, a day after relatives of the six miners pleaded for rescue efforts to continue despite the deaths of three searchers. He said decisions about further rescue attempts will be made by federal and company officials in consultation with mining experts.
Family members of the men trapped since Aug. 6 were outraged Sunday after officials said they may never be found.
“We feel that they’ve given up and that they are just waiting for the six miners to expire,” said family spokesman Sonny Olsen, as about 70 relatives stood behind him.
“Precious time is being squandered here, and we do not have time to spare,” he said. The families demanded that rescuers immediately begin drilling a wider hole for a capsule.
On Sunday, family members issued a statement saying Mr. Murray had promised to remove the miners dead or alive. Through their lawyer, Sonny Olsen, the families urged that a wider hole be drilled to pull the men up.
Four holes have been drilled into the Utah mine. A fifth hole, started Sunday, had reached 850 feet late afternoon Monday, Mr. Stickler said, and was expected to reach its final depth of 2,038 feet by 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Fresh air was being pumped into the holes, Mr. Stickler said, though a camera and sensors lowered last week detected no sign of life.
Rob Moore, vice-president of Murray Energy, said on Sunday that coal could still be recovered from elsewhere the mine, an assertion that drew criticism the United Mine Workers of America.
Increasing attention is now being paid to Stickler, the federal government’s main mine man.
Stickler used to be a mining executive who - according to various media reports - ran mines which had several fatalities and “…an incident rate that was often twice the national average.”