"We're not going to recover dead bodies if it endangers the life of another human being," Murray said. "We had nine heroes killed or injured Thursday night. We're not going to do that anymore."

Murray also said all Crandall Canyon Mine employees have been transferred to Murray Energy's other Utah mines, Tower and West Ridge, and that he has no plans to reopen the troubled mine.

It's a decision Murray said he made immediately after he helped pull injured and dead miners from the mine after Thursday's collapse.

"I told MSHA when I came out that night, with blood on my hands, that it's an evil mountain, it's alive and I will never go back in there," he said. "I'm not going back in the mine, and no one ever said we would."

That contradicts statements Murray made Monday when he told reporters the collapsed section of the mine likely would be sealed, but that mining may continue elsewhere at the coal mine.

Family members say Murray's plan to close the mine is his way of avoiding potentially damning investigations. In a written statement given to reporters today, family members said, "Bob Murray is trying to quit searching for miners and wants to shut the mine down as soon as possible. He wants to close the mine forever and make it so that it will never be accessed again. It is all part of his plan to keep an investigation away from his mine."

The sometimes-volatile mine owner's relationship with the trapped miners' families has been frosty since a briefing Monday night, during which family members say Murray bluntly told them their loved ones were likely dead and that their bodies probably wouldn't be recovered.

"He was very aggressive when speaking without an ounce of tact (or) respect," the statement reads. " ... Then he tried to place guilt on the families (of the trapped miners) for the deaths and injuries of the miners from the second collapse."

Family members say Murray originally promised that he'd bring their loved ones home dead or alive but changed his tune following the second tragedy.

"He very aggressively told the families to give up," according to the statement, "that we might as well stop thinking we could pressure him to recover the bodies dead or alive because he changed his mind."

The families want rescue crews to drill a hole large enough to send down a rescue capsule and retrieve the miners or their bodies. Murray said the use of a rescue capsule will be "an option" only if it is determined that any of the men are alive.

"Putting a bore hole down 2,000 feet with someone in it is something that has never been done before," he said. "I'm not willing at this point to risk more lives."

Murray called the family's request for such a rescue "based on emotion, not on reality."

State senators opened their session Wednesday with a moment of silence for those involved in the disaster at the Crandall Canyon Mine.

Senate Minority Leader Mike Dmitrich, D-Price, praised what he described as the heroic attempt to rescue the six miners.

"Right now we have three fatalities," Dmitrich said before senators bowed their heads in silent prayer. "We have six still under that cruel mountain."

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Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche

E-mail: jpage@desnews.com