Underground rescue at Utah mine halts after three die

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Efforts to burrow through to six miners buried beneath a Utah mountain were suspended indefinitely yesterday following a tragic cave-in that left three rescuers dead and six injured, officials said.

Underground attempts to reach the trapped workers at the Genwal Mine in Crandall Canyon were halted after officials ruled conditions at the mine were too dangerous to continue in the wake of Thursday's accident.

"We have suspended the underground portion of the rescue operation," said Richard Stickler, head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

A team of experts was being assembled in an effort to determine what could be done to protect rescuers, Stickler said.

Stickler blamed the cave-in on a "seismic bump," which can occur when intense pressure bearing down on a mine forces a tunnel's roof, walls or supporting pillars to buckle and cave in.

He said a 30-foot (10-meter) section of the tunnel wall had exploded in the accident, burying nine workers under tons of rock and coal.

Utah Governor Jon Huntsman had earlier demanded that the operation should be halted unless the safety of miners -- who are digging at a depth of around 1,500 feet (450 meters) -- could be guaranteed.

"It has gone from a tragedy to a catastrophe," Huntsman told CNN. "We shouldn't allow another person in the underground mine until we can ensure their safety. No one wants the lives of these heroes to be lost in vain.

"We've seen too much over the last week and a half and we need to begin to learn from some of these lessons."

Flags were being flown at half-staff to honor the dead rescue workers, Huntsman added.

Of the six other miners injured in Thursday's accident, three had been discharged from hospital while three continued to be treated for injuries.

Federal safety officials have adopted a double-pronged rescue strategy at the mine, which is situated in a remote mountain region around 120 miles (193 kilometers) southeast of Salt Lake City.

Drills have punched three holes into the chamber where the miners trapped in the initial collapse on August 6 were believed to be while rescuers have been working inside the mountain trying to dig through collapsed access tunnels.

Cameras and microphones lowered into the cavern from the surface have found no evidence that the six miners are alive, although officials have so far insisted that the men could have survived.

Work on a fourth hole would continue, Stickler said, saying that if any of the six miners were found alive they could be supplied with food and water before eventually being pulled out in a rescue capsule.

Controversy has swirled over the precise cause of the initial cave-in, with mine-owner Robert Murray insisting it was the result of a powerful 3.9 magnitude earthquake.

However scientists at monitoring stations in Salt Lake City have suggested however that the seismic activity was caused by mining excavation.