"They've said a number of times they hope that others who are praying for them don't begin to lose faith because of this disaster," Hope said.

Of the families he has spoken to, Hope said none have indicated what they believe to be the best course of action going forward.

"I think they're still taking in what happened last night," he said. "They're going to trust the best judgment of the experts of how they proceed from here."

After receiving humanitarian visas, the Mexican consulate in Salt Lake City said trapped miner Luis Hernandez's brothers, Ernesto and Carlos, arrived in Huntington on Friday. One of Carlos Payan's brothers is also expected to arrive soon. Manuel Sanchez's family has not requested any visas yet.

The families are in a state of confusion as to what comes next, Emery County Sheriff Lamar Guymon told the Deseret Morning News.

"There's a lot of wondering if they'll ever see their loved one again," he said Friday. "Everything has to cease eventually. Looking at 'em you can see in their faces the concern."

In the mining towns of Huntington and Price, people were still in shock over the deaths of the rescuers.

"This is a tragedy on top of a tragedy," said Sen. Mike Dmitrich, D-Price.

Breakthrough?

Rescuers hope today to be able to drill through into a cavern where the six miners are trapped. Another 8 5/8-inch hole being drilled into the mountain is expected to punch through sometime this afternoon, MSHA officials said.

The progress was slowed on Friday because of downpours from thunderstorms that moved over Huntington Canyon. It is the fourth hole to be drilled in the mountain above the mine. The others have yielded no sign of the men, alive or dead.

If the latest hole is able to detect signs of life from the six miners trapped underground, MSHA is making plans to drill a hole big enough to drop rescue capsules — cages big enough to hold a person — inside the hole and bring the men out through the mountain — a distance of nearly 2,000 feet.

The fourth hole was being drilled after geophones that measure vibrations picked up five minutes of "noise" on Wednesday.

Rescuers are downplaying the noise, which was detected when a drill punched a third hole into the cavern. Officials said it could have been animals, rocks falling or even thunder.

Yet they concede the noise was significant enough that they moved the fourth drill site to the site of the origination of the noise. The noise registered as graphs on two geophones shortly after rescuers tried to signal the trapped miners. No noise has been detected since, officials said.