"The families of the miners have asked me to relay to you their gratitude for your concern, compassion and prayers," Father Donald Hope said in a statement to the Deseret Morning News this morning. "As you can understand, the three families with which we are in contact are exhausted, but are trying to keep hope alive."

Signs saying "God Bless Our 6" have popped up in town in a show of solidarity for the miners and their families.

President Bush offered support for the rescue efforts. Speaking at the U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday, the president announced he had called Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.

"I told him the nation's thoughts and prayers are with the miners and their families and that the federal government will help in any way we can," the president said.

The governor was in Huntington again Wednesday to meet with mine officials, rescuers and family members of the trapped miners.

The family members of victims in the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia also reached out to the families of the trapped miners.

"We know the excruciating pain that the families are feeling. Our hearts and prayers are just with them," said Pamela Campbell, whose brother-in-law, Marty Bennett, was killed in the 2006 coal mine disaster.

She wrote an open letter to the families expressing the feelings of many of the Sago Mine families.

"Nobody out there, unless they have lost a loved one in the mines, knows what they're going through," she said. "We know that fear. We know that hurt. We know that uncertainty."

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com; jpage@desnews.com; twalch@desnews.com