US News
New hole drilled in attempt to contact missing Utah miners
Aug 19, 2007, 0:47 GMT
Washington - Rescuers on Saturday completed drilling a fourth hole into a Utah mountain in an attempt to contact six miners trapped underground since August 6, according to reports from the scene.
Drilling work to locate the missing men has continued even as digging to clear a collapsed mine shaft has been halted since another cave-in on Thursday killed three rescuers and left six others injured.
The latest hole, the fourth drilled up to 600 metres deep to reach areas where the men could have been trapped, was completed Saturday afternoon, broadcaster CBS News reported. Microphones and cameras were expected to be used to explore the hole for signs of the missing miners.
Rescuers have found no clear signs of life from the six workers trapped in the initial accident inside the Crandall Canyon mine in the Rocky Mountains near Huntington, Utah.
Two of the killed rescuers worked alongside the missing men, and the third fatality was a member of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, a regulatory agency within the US Labour Department.
It remains unclear if rescuers will be able to venture underground again, or how the trapped miners could be freed if drilling efforts were to produce any signs of life.
Three holes drilled previously into different parts of the vast underground complex found some evidence of enough air and water to sustain life for many days, but there was no sight or sound of the miners.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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