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New Images Offer Hope at Mine

After sounds, emergency camera detects space of fresh air

By Heather McPherson,  Newser User

Posted Aug 16, 2007 5:56 AM CDT

(Newser) – Hours after rescuers in Utah detected noise from the collapsed mine, images from a videocamera lowered into the disaster site offered a glimmer of hope, the AP reports. Although the camera did not pick up the miners, it did film a ventilation curtain used to ensure workers have access to good air. Behind the curtain would be a pocket of fresh air, where they could be waiting.

"There was no damage at all. The roof is intact; no ribs have outburst. The floors are in place—it looked just as it did when we mined it," mine owner Bob Murray told the AP late last night. "If the men went in there, they could be alive." Drilling on a fourth hole, prompted by the sounds detected yesterday, will begin today. A rescue after 10 days is unlikely but not impossible: last year miners in Australia were pulled to safety two weeks after their work site collapsed.

This image made from video provided by Murray Energy Corp. shows a camera being lowered into a mine shaft during rescue efforts at Huntington, Utah on Monday, Aug. 13, 2007. Six coal miners were trapped by a cave-in over a week ago. (AP Photo/Murray Energy Corp.)
This image made from video provided by Murray Energy Corp. shows a camera being lowered into a mine shaft during rescue efforts at Huntington, Utah on Monday, Aug. 13, 2007. Six coal miners were trapped...   (Associated Press)
This is an image made from video provided by Murray Energy Corp. showing the interior of a mine shaft during rescue efforts at Huntington, Utah on Monday, Aug. 13, 2007. Six coal miners were trapped by a cave-in over a week ago. (AP Photo/Murray Energy Corp.)
This is an image made from video provided by Murray Energy Corp. showing the interior of a mine shaft during rescue efforts at Huntington, Utah on Monday, Aug. 13, 2007. Six coal miners were trapped by...   (Associated Press)
Mine safety manager and a member of the rescue team  Bodee Allred updates reporters on rescue efforts for six trapped coal miners including his cousin Kerry Allred, as mine owner while Robert Murray, founder and chairman of Cleveland-based Murray Energy Corp.  is seen in background during a news conference at...
Mine safety manager and a member of the rescue team Bodee Allred updates reporters on rescue efforts for six trapped coal miners including his cousin Kerry Allred, as mine owner while Robert Murray,...   (Associated Press)
Coal miner Bodee Allred gives Sheriff Lamar Guymon a hug following an update on the rescue efforts for six trapped coal miners during a news conference at the entrance to the Crandall Canyon Mine on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007, in near Huntington, Utah.  Allred's cousin is one of the  trapped...
Coal miner Bodee Allred gives Sheriff Lamar Guymon a hug following an update on the rescue efforts for six trapped coal miners during a news conference at the entrance to the Crandall Canyon Mine on Wednesday,...   (Associated Press)
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