Crews who are continuing to clear debris and mine toward the trapped miners had advanced about 180 feet from the mine entrance and are expected to progress at the rate of 300 feet per day, Murray said, meaning they could reach the trapped miners in six to seven days.

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration plans to conduct an investigation into what caused the mine to collapse, but its waiting to do so until rescue efforts are complete, said Stickler.

This morning, the son of one of the trapped miners and the brother of another were taken to the mountain site where the drilling rig operations are underway. They accompanied Murray into the mine on Wednesday to see for themselves the rescue efforts and then updated their families on the progress.

New hope today

Family members this morning were shown a video taken of the underground rescue efforts inside the Crandall Canyon Mine.

"They have a little more hope today," Emery County Sheriff Lamar Guymon told the Deseret Morning News after leaving a meeting with the families.

An interpreter was also brought in to assist in communications between mine officials and the Spanish-speaking families, authorities said.

At one point during Wednesday morning's meeting, some family members said mine owner Bob Murray stormed out of the meeting.

"He got mad and left and came back," said Maria Buenrostro, the sister of miner Manuel Sanchez. "We were just trying to get answers to our questions."

Asked about his meeting with the families, Murray said he'd been thanked by many of them.

The miners were in the middle of working a 12-hour shift early Monday when the mine shaft collapsed in an event so powerful it registered 3.9 on the Richter scale. Ten miners were inside the area at the time. Four managed to escape.

Murray contends that an earthquake caused the collapse. Seismologists have said their evidence points to the mine collapse as the seismic event. Today, the University of California at Berkeley released a report that said it analyzed the records.

"The results of our analysis show that the recorded seismic waves are consistent with an underground collapse," it said.

The University of Utah Seismograph Stations also said today it has placed more seismometers around the Candall Canyon Mine.

"It will accurately locate any further siesmic activity as the mine continues to settle, or natural seismicity or any mine related seismicity," U. spokesman Lee Seigel said.

Comforting words

At the Mission San Rafael in Huntington, Bishop John Wester will celebrate Mass today for the trapped miners and their families.