Search For Six Trapped Coal Miners in Utah Continues For A Ninth Day

In Utah, rescuers are still trying to reach six coal miners who have been trapped more than 1,800 feet underground for the past eight days. There has been no sign of the six men since the Crandall Canyon Mine in central Utah caved in last week. Bob Murray, head of Murray Energy Corporation and co-owner of the mine spoke at a news conference yesterday in the nearby town of Huntington.

Images from a video camera lowered into the collapsed mine revealed equipment, but no sign of the miners. Officials said they were preparing to drill a third hole deep into the earth in the hopes of finding them.

It is still unclear what caused the mine to collapse. Bob Murray has insisted it was caused by an earthquake but seismologists say there was no earthquake and that readings on seismometers actually came from the collapse.

All six trapped miners have been identified by their families. Three of them are Mexican citizens.

• Ellen Smith, owner and managing editor of Mine Safety and Health News. She has been covering mining-related issues since 1987 and has won numerous journalism awards for her reporting.

LISTEN ONLINE