Rescue workers close to trapped miners

Aug 9, 2007, 20:23 GMT

Washington - Rescuers said Thursday that they were close to getting a line to six miners trapped underground in a Utah coal mine.

A 5-centimetre wide hole was some 22 metres away from the cavity where the miners were believed to be working when the mine collapsed early Monday.

Rescuers hope to learn the fate of six trapped miners in Utah later on Thursday when a small hole being drilled from the surface is expected to break into the mine shaft, the mine's co-owner said.

There has been no contact with the miners, or any sign of life since the accident. Getting a microphone into the cavity will give the first indication of the miners' condition and position.

'We should arrive in the cavity in six hours,' mine co-owner Robert Murray told a morning press conference.

A second bore hole, nearly 23 centimetres in diameter, is also being drilled and should reach the area where the men are believed to be late on Friday, Murray said.

'Through those bore holes we will provide communications, ventilation, sustenance - anything they need to keep them alive indefinitely,' he said.

His comments came as families of the miners voiced increased frustration over what they regarded as the unacceptably slow pace of the rescue.

'We want the truth, that's all we want,' said Maria Buenrostro, whose brother, Manuel Sanchez, is one of the trapped miners. 'If there's nothing that they can do about it, you know, just tell us so we know what to expect when they bring them out.'