Three rescue workers within the mine — local coal miners Dale Black, 49, and Brandon Kimber, 29, and mine safety inspector Gary Jensen, 53 — died after a 1.6 magnitude mountain "bump" hit about 6:30 p.m. Thursday, blowing out the mine's ribs and burying rescue workers in debris. Three of the six other injured miners remained hospitalized late Saturday with their most recent condition reports ranging from fair to serious.

The collapse happened about 50 feet from the working base of the mine and was so strong that it completely knocked out all of the ground support rescuers had put in place.

Despite the inherent dangers of going back underground to search for the trapped men, Stickler said he is confident that, given the chance, rescuers would return to the Crandall Canyon Mine to search for their fellow miners.

"I believe if we can design a support system that will ensure the safety of the workers that there will be workers willing to continue that operation," Stickler said.

Mine co-owner Bob Murray, at first a visible — and outspoken — presence at news conferences has been conspicuously absent since the Thursday night incident.

Moore, however, cautioned people not to read too much into Murray's failure to appear in front of the cameras.

"Mr. Murray has been personally administering to the families of the deceased and the injured workers, as well as the many, many, many courageous workers who went in in an attempt to rescue those injured miners," he said.

Moore later added, "When he is prepared to come and talk, I'm sure you'll see him again."

Officials began drilling the fourth hole Thursday afternoon after a pair of geophones placed on the mountain to measure vibration picked up five minutes of "noise" in the area the previous day.

At that time, rescuers downplayed the noise — saying it could have been animals, falling rocks or even thunder — but were encouraged enough to start drilling the fourth bore hole approximately 520 feet from the third hole, which yielded inconclusive results.

The first and second holes drilled into the mountain were also problematic, with an initial, 2 1/2-inch hole yielding nothing and a high-resolution camera dropped into a second hole measuring 8 5/8 inches in diameter suffering technical problems.

Should a future bore hole reveal signs of life from the six men, MSHA has said it is possible to widen it to 30 inches and drop rescue capsules into the hole large enough to lift the men out of the mountain.

Rescuers would initially send food, water and any needed medical supplies into the hole while a drill capable of making the 30-inch hole was brought to the mine, Stickler said. MSHA has two drilling companies on 24-hour standby with rigs capable of drilling the larger holes.

Officials would not speculate late Saturday as to when the frantic rescue efforts may begin to wind down.

"As long as we have hope, we're going to continue working and doing everything that we can," Stickler said. "People have survived extended periods of time without food, but our goal is to find these miners alive."

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E-mail: awelling@desnews.com