Hopes dim as borehole finds nothing

HUNTINGTON — The completion of a sixth — and possibly final — borehole Saturday at the Crandall Canyon Mine left little hope for families of six miners trapped there for almost three weeks, as the drill pounded into nothing but more rock.

Families of Carlos Payan, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Brandon Phillips, Manuel Sanchez and Kerry Allred were told Saturday the drill did not reach an open space in the mine.

"There is no void where the sixth hole is," said Colin King, a Salt Lake attorney retained to represent a majority of the miners' families. "There is no space."

Meanwhile, news reports late Saturday indicated Murray Energy Corp., which operates the Crandall Canyon Mine, may be planning to shut down, at least temporarily, a similar Murray mine in the area. Miners in Utah's coal country told reporters they had been summoned to a meeting today, and many were expecting layoffs.

On the mountain above the Crandall Canyon Mine, crews finished drilling through 1,783 feet of rock and mud Saturday afternoon to finish the sixth borehole, said Matthew Faraci, Mine Safety and Health Administration spokesman. Five previous holes revealed no signs of life in the mine.

Faraci said MSHA officials are evaluating the hole, begun Thursday, which could include dropping a camera, microphone and air-quality testing equipment in the borehole. Results of the evaluation may be made available today.

If no signs of life are found at the bottom of the hole, mine co-owner Bob Murray has said he might abandon further attempts to rescue the miners. Murray Energy Co. officials declined comment Saturday.

The families of the miners, missing since Aug. 6, are demanding that Murray make good on his promise to bring them back "dead or alive."

King said he is "very disappointed at the Murray Energy group of companies, who seem to have given up on these people in the mine." King, of the law firm Dewsnup, King and Olsen, also said the families have been promised things that have not come to fruition, specifically the arrival of a larger rig that would drill a wider hole capable of handling a vertical rescue.

"We are disappointed at repeated gestures and statements that the rig was on its way.... But it is my understanding that no such drill rig ever arrived on site," King said.

Outside the Desert Edge Christian Chapel in Huntington on Saturday, King told the media he will go to court if Murray makes any attempt to seal the mine before recovering the missing miners.