Fourth bore hole progresses toward cavern in Utah mine

HUNTINGTON — Rescue crews drilling a fourth bore hole into the Crandall Canyon Mine are making progress today in another effort to locate six miners trapped there for nearly two weeks.

Saturday morning, Kevin Stricklin of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration told The Associated Press the drill was less than 200 feet from a cavern where the miners may have fled following the Aug. 6 collapse.

"We're making good progress," Stricklin told the news organization.

MSHA has scheduled a 7 p.m. briefing for today at a mobile command center set up about 1 1/2 miles below the mine's entrance, according to an agency representative. The briefing will immediately follow a meeting with families affected by the mine collapse, where officials will presumably discuss what — if anything — was discovered with the completion of the fourth hole.

Progress on the 8 5/8-inch hole was slowed Friday because of downpours from thunderstorms that moved over Huntington Canyon. It is the fourth hole to be drilled into the mountain above the mine. The others have yielded no sign of the men, alive or dead.

If the latest hole reveals signs of life from the trapped miners, MSHA has said it could expand the width of the hole to 30 inches and drop rescue capsules — cages big enough to hold a person — inside the mine. The men could then be brought out through the mountain — a distance of nearly 2,000 feet.

At this point, the bore hole appears to be the only hope of rescuing the six men. Underground rescue attempts have been halted indefinitely following the Thursday night collapse that killed three rescue miners and injured six others. Three of those six survivors remained hospitalized Saturday.

The rescuers were trying to reach Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Manuel Sanchez, who have been nearly 1,900 feet underground for 13 days.

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E-mail: awelling@desnews.com