HUNTINGTON — Every night family members drive to the Desert Edge Christian Chapel on the outskirts of this mining town hoping to hear any scrap of news on the fate of their six loved ones who remain trapped nearly 1,900 feet underground in the Crandall Canyon Mine.
"It's tough," Sonny Olsen, a spokesman for the miners' families, said Wednesday. One family member even told him: "Every day we come here and just get kicked in the teeth."
The families hope today will provide a miracle. A seventh borehole being drilled into the mountain punched through this morning into the mine at 1,865 feet. Yet after 25 days, some families are beginning to acknowledge their loved ones may be dead.
"They know the odds of survival are very low at this point," Olsen said. "I think they're beginning to come to grips with that, but they have not lost hope. I still see hope in some of their eyes. But they know the odds."
However, Olsen said, the families will not accept leaving their loved ones entombed in the mine.
"They hope one day to take their loved ones out of the mine and put them in their final resting place here," he said.
Patience is the key. Federal mine safety officials said it is still too dangerous to go underground because of seismic activity. It was a 3.9-magnitude event that caused the Aug. 6 collapse, trapping miners Luis Hernandez, Manuel Sanchez, Don Erickson, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Kerry Allred. On Aug. 16, a pressure-shifting mountain "bump" that registered 1.6 on the Richter scale killed three rescuers and injured six.
A panel of experts brought in by the Mine Safety and Health Administration and mine owner Bob Murray concluded it was too dangerous to be inside the mine.
"Nobody can even go in that area," said Rich Kulczewski, an MSHA spokesman. "The panel didn't even want to go in there themselves, and I don't blame them."
Federal authorities said their effort is still considered a rescue operation. As of Wednesday night, the drill had made it through 1,443 feet of mountain at a rate of 40 feet per hour. When it does break through, MSHA officials said, rescuers will tap on the drill bit in an effort to make some contact with the miners. Then a camera will be lowered into the mine.
The robotic camera was used at the remains of the World Trade Center after the 9/11 terror attacks. The robot would be able to maneuver in the rubble trying to glean some information about the miners' fate.
Conditions for drilling have not been ideal. Each afternoon, thunderstorms have moved over the mine.
"It's terrible. It's terrible," MSHA's Al Davis said of the weather conditions at the rescue site, describing deep mud on the roads and at the drill rigs.
Despite the continual setbacks, Olsen said, the families want rescue efforts to continue. "We would expect an eighth hole," he said.
The previous six holes drilled have turned up no sign of the miners. Oxygen levels have been mixed, with some areas unable to support any life.
MSHA could begin its investigation into the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster as early as next week. It would encompass not only the initial collapse, but also the deaths of the three rescuers, Kulczewski said. The families' efforts to have labor union representation in any investigation into the coal-mining disaster was rejected by MSHA. The United Mine Workers of America said Wednesday it was shut out of the investigation.
"This is a travesty that will have the effect of silencing the voices of the families of those still missing in the mine as this investigation moves forward," UMWA President Cecil Roberts said in a statement.
Congress is set to begin a series of probes into the mine disaster. Murray and MSHA chief Richard Stickler have been summoned to testify before a House Committee on Sept. 5.
On Wednesday, coal-hauling operations resumed at the Crandall Canyon Mine. Trucks loaded with 45 tons of coal were seen leaving the mine entrance. The coal is not being removed from inside the mine but is being taken from a 65,000-ton mound of coal outside the entrance, Utah American Energy President Bruce Hill said.
The coal is being removed to meet customer orders and to prevent it from catching fire, he told the Deseret Morning News.
Mine owners did not meet with family members Wednesday. Olsen said they hadn't been seen in several days. Murray left the state several days ago; he was seen boarding a private jet at the Price airport and trying to avoid a TV camera.
Murray laid off 170 workers at his three other mines in Utah. Saying the move was only temporary, he offered jobs at his Ohio and Illinois mines to the laid-off miners. About a dozen showed up Tuesday to catch a bus headed east. A job fair for the laid-off workers will be held today. The Utah Department of Workforce Services said it will begin at 10 a.m. at the department's employment center in Price.
Here in Utah's coal country, signs of support for the trapped miners continue to pop up.
"We have not forgotten!" a sign outside a business reads. "Keep praying. Bob won't leave them!"
Huntington Mayor Hilary Hillary Gordon said more than $100,000 has been raised in a fund for the families of the six trapped miners. Money is also being collected in a separate fund for the families of the three fallen rescuers.
"Money's still coming in," she told the Deseret Morning News. "It's changing every day."
Funds have been set up at Zions Bank, but money has yet to be given to the families. Gordon said they would wait until donations started slowing down before deciding what to do next.
Contributing: Josh Loftin
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com