Mine Operation Continues With 7th Hole and Camera

(NEWSER) - At least nine rescuers at the Utah mine where six miners were trapped last week are injured after seismic activity may have caused another cave-in, CNN reports. Six or more ambulances and two helicopters rushed to the Crandall Canyon mine tonight to transport the wounded rescuers to the hospital. More»

But mine should reopen, civic leaders say

(NEWSER) - As New Zealand mourns the 29 miners lost in Tuesday’s second explosion , civic leaders are already calling for the mine to be reopened. "A big part of our economy on the west coast is coal and, yes, we want our men back down the mine working,” says the district mayor, “but we want them in a safe environment." Authorities are committed to retrieving the miners’ bodies, but poisonous and combustible gas levels are still so high that the process could take weeks or months, the BBC reports. More»

(NEWSER) - The last hole drilled into the collapsed Utah mine where six men are trapped yielded no hopeful sign today; the space it reached was too small to support the men, a lawyer for some of the families told the press. "The only thing they told us is there is no void where the sixth hole is; there is no space," he told the AP after a meeting with mine officials. More»

Company decides to close mine permanently

(NEWSER) - Workers will bore a final hole in a bid to locate six miners lost in a Utah mine, but if that fails, the operation will be halted and the mine closed as a kind of memorial tomb, the owner said yesterday. "We're not going to risk more live people to get dead bodies," said Bob Murray. Three rescue workers died in a collapse last week. More»

Miners' bodies may never be recovered

(NEWSER) - The trapped Utah miners are most likely dead, and their bodies may never be recovered, mine owner Robert Murray acknowledged to bereaved family members last night. Following the death of three rescuers—and a report from mining experts concluding that further attempts would be an unacceptable risk—underground rescue efforts have been suspended indefinitely. More»