HUNTINGTON — The first call about a collapse at the Crandall Canyon Mine three weeks ago was made almost an hour after the accident. And it came from the University of Utah seismograph station, not workers or bosses at the mine.

Mine workers called three minutes after Walter Arabasz, the director of the U. seismograph station, called 911 in Emery County. The dispatch recordings were provided to media on Monday by the Emery County Sheriff's Office.

Those details emerged as the families of the six trapped miners were told that work on a seventh drill hole had been delayed because of bad weather. Additionally, a plan to lower a robot into the mine through a previously drilled hole was stalled because of debris in the hole. The hole was drilled almost two weeks ago.

Officials refused to say whether the work had resumed Tuesday morning. U.S. Labor Department spokesman Matthew Faraci said any new developments would first be reported to families of the trapped miners.

On the 911 recordings, Arabasz told Emery County emergency dispatch that readings near the mine at 2:48 a.m. Aug. 6 showed an earthquake of about 4.0 magnitude on the Richter scale. (That was later revised to 3.9.) Although he did not say it was caused by a collapse, he told the dispatcher it looked like it was connected to something that happened in a mine.

"Just from the general character of the seismic event, it looks like it might be a coal mining-related event," Arabasz told the dispatcher.

During the two-minute conversation, Arabasz asked if the dispatcher had other reports of "the event." The dispatcher told him there were no other reports.

At 3:47 a.m., a worker at the mine, Mark Toomer, called to report a collapse. He did not say there were injuries or ask for additional rescue personnel but simply suggested that they start an ambulance up the canyon toward the mine.

"We had a big cave-in up here, and we're probably going to need an ambulance," he said on the recording. "We're not sure yet, because we haven't heard from anybody in the section. But we're most likely going to need one up here."

The collapse filled the mine shaft where six miners were working with rock and coal, although it is not known if the miners were buried. Those six men — Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Manuel Sanchez — have not been heard from since that morning.

Rescue efforts have been suspended since Aug. 16, when another cave-in killed three rescue workers.

The call from Arabasz further contradicts mine owner Bob Murray, who maintains the collapse was caused by a seismic event, not caused by the mine.

Officials from the Mine Health and Safety Administration canceled a scheduled media briefing Monday night at the canyon entrance. They also did not speak to the media after a 10-minute meeting with family members in Huntington, and the only information about what they knew came from attorneys for the families.

Heavy rain at the mountaintop was so bad that boulders slid into the road and mud and debris clogged the path of the descending robot, according to attorneys Colin King and Edward Havas, who represent the trapped miners' families.

"They didn't get very far," King said.

King and Havas said MSHA did not tell the families when the seventh hole would be started, but efforts to lower the robot continued Monday night. The robot reached about half-way down the third hole that was drilled into the roof of the mine, but technical difficulties interrupted the process.

King said the robot traveled far enough to give MSHA officials confidence that it could be lowered to the mine's floor.

Originally, rescue workers thought the fourth hole would be the best route for the robot, but further consideration favored the third hole, Havas said. MSHA officials are still keeping the fourth hole as an option, Havas said.

King said MSHA officials have not discussed the possibility of drilling an eighth hole in the mountain.

"I would assume they're going to focus on (the seventh hole) and make a decision on the eighth hole after the seventh hole," King said. "I think they are genuinely anxious to see if this robot will work."

Havas said the family members, who still have hope their loved ones may be alive, are encouraged by the rescue efforts.

"What they want is their loved ones to be recovered by whatever means are possible that don't get someone else killed," Havas said. "The fact that the process is continuing is a positive sign. (The mining officials) haven't given up."

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Monday was also the deadline for workers laid off from the Tower Mine near Price to decide whether to relocate to other states for jobs at other Murray-owned mines. He temporarily closed the Tower Mine, which employs approximately 170 miners, for safety reasons.

Also, congressional officials requested from Murray and the U.S. Labor Department information about the safety records for the Crandall Canyon Mine. Members of the House Education and Labor Committee need the information as they launch an investigation into the disaster.


Contributing: Associated Press

E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com; achoate@desnews.com

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