'Survivable Space' Found in Utah Mine

Tomas Hernandez, the uncle of trapped miner Luis Hernandez, is interviewed by reporters after the morning update with Crandall Canyon Mine owner Robert Murray at Canyon View Junior High School in Huntington, Utah, Saturday, Aug. 11, 2007. A video camera lowered into a shattered coal mine where six miners have been missing for more than five days has found "survivable space," a federal official said Saturday, but attempts to signal the miners were met by silence. The void found by a camera lowered into a new borehole showed an intact ceiling over 2 1/2-feet of rubble mixed with water on the floor, said Richard Stickler, head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Chris Detrick) (Chris Detrick - AP)

HUNTINGTON, Utah -- A video camera lowered into a mine where six workers have been missing for more than five days shows "survivable space," a federal official said Saturday, but attempts to signal the miners were met by silence.

The void found by a camera lowered into a new hole showed an intact ceiling over 2 feet of rubble mixed with water, said Richard Stickler, head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

"We do have a 5 1/2-foot void. We have not lost the space where the miners could be located," he said.

The nearly 9-inch-wide hole reached the void in the early morning darkness. Rescuers quickly shut down the drill rig and their compressors _ anything that could drown out signs of life from down below _ and rapped again and again on the drill steel in an attempt to contact the miners. Trapped miners, if they can hear the signal, are trained to respond in kind with tools or rocks.

These signals, however, were met with silence.

"It was heartbreaking," said mine geologist Mike Glasson, who was on the mountain at the time. "If they're alive and well and didn't respond ... perhaps they're injured. I don't know.

"We did not lose confidence in what we are doing up there," he added, "Not one bit."

The news further disheartened the miners' relatives, who have eagerly awaited each new development only to have their faith dashed when no word comes of the fate of their loved ones.

"I think with so much time passing we are losing hope," said Tomas Hernandez, uncle of miner Luis Hernandez, 23, although he said his nephew's wife was clinging to hers. "As a wife, she has to have hope."

The camera encountered trouble because 10 gallons of groundwater a minute were flowing down the hole into the vast space below, Stickler said. The water, not enough to affect any survivors below, blurred one of the camera's lenses.

Nonetheless, he said, "We found survivable space."

The camera was withdrawn so a steel casing could be inserted in the well to protect the camera from the water. Getting the casing in and the camera back down was not expected to be completed until late Saturday night, Glasson said.