Washington - Rescuers said Thursday that they were close to
getting a line to six miners trapped underground in a Utah coal mine.
A 5-centimetre wide hole was some 22 metres away from the cavity
where the miners were believed to be working when the mine collapsed
early Monday.
Rescuers hope to learn the fate of six trapped miners in Utah
later on Thursday when a small hole being drilled from the surface is
expected to break into the mine shaft, the mine's co-owner said.
There has been no contact with the miners, or any sign of life
since the accident. Getting a microphone into the cavity will give
the first indication of the miners' condition and position.
'We should arrive in the cavity in six hours,' mine co-owner
Robert Murray told a morning press conference.
A second bore hole, nearly 23 centimetres in diameter, is also
being drilled and should reach the area where the men are believed to
be late on Friday, Murray said.
'Through those bore holes we will provide communications,
ventilation, sustenance - anything they need to keep them alive
indefinitely,' he said.
His comments came as families of the miners voiced increased
frustration over what they regarded as the unacceptably slow pace of
the rescue.
'We want the truth, that's all we want,' said Maria Buenrostro,
whose brother, Manuel Sanchez, is one of the trapped miners. 'If
there's nothing that they can do about it, you know, just tell us so
we know what to expect when they bring them out.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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