Hundreds at vigil for trapped miners pray for a happy ending

HUNTINGTON, Emery County — Pray for our six.

That was the message Friday evening as about 350 people representing nearly all of the nearby mining towns of Emery and Carbon counties joined for a candlelight vigil at Huntington Elementary School.

The group continues to hold out hope that the six men trapped inside the Crandall Canyon Mine are alive and will at some point in the near future return home.

"They're all family," said Alan Borban, a cousin of trapped miner Kerry Allred. "We hope they come out safe."

Pictures of five of the six miners were put on white poster board with the words "hope" and "faith" written on them. A picture was not available for Luis Hernandez.

Those who attended the vigil wrote their own personal messages on each individual poster.

"We love you Kerry. We hope and pray you'll come home to us," read one message on Allred's poster.

A message on another poster read, "We will continue to pray for you and your family." And yet another message simply stated, "Can't wait to see you again."

"You always gotta have hope. You never give up," said Ryan Baker, who attended the vigil.

Stephanie McNeil is best friends with trapped miner Manuel Sanchez's father. "I just kind of feel lost. I don't know how much to feel, I don't know how to feel. ... you just hope and pray they're coming home," she said.

Even people who do not know any of the trapped miners attended the vigil to show their support. Steve Oliver said if it weren't for the coal mines, the towns of Huntington, Cleveland, Elmo, Orangeville and others probably wouldn't exist.

"Everybody knows a miner or is related to a miner," he said. "I've got friends in the coal mines. You're either mining (coal), hauling it or burning it. The only reason anyone is here is the coal miners."

Framed pictures of the miners, each with a large candle next to it and yellow flowers, were placed on a table. A candle for each miner was lit after a prayer was said or poem read. Yellow has come to symbolize the hope of the community for the miners to return home safely. Yellow ribbons have been tied around light posts around town.

Anika Farmer, who organized the event, talked to those who gathered about the tragic night that the mine caved in and how anxious family members are hurting, and how all of them are praying for a happy ending.

"Six wives cannot get off of their knees. They have not been able to get off their knees for days," she said.