2 21.5 inch Rescue capsules at mine, but deemed too dangerous to use.

[partylessinOhio]

Rescue capsules at mine, but deemed too dangerous to use - unless survivor found
By Patty Henetz
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:08/21/2007 08:33:57 AM MDT

Rescue capsules big enough to lift a man out of the collapsed Crandall Canyon mine have been at the mine site for more than a week. But despite federal and state pleas, mine operator Robert Murray hasn't brought in equipment to drill the necessary 30-inch hole.

Kevin Stricklin, the coal safety administrator for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, has said that federal officials and mine co-owner and operator Robert Murray have talked about drilling a 30-inch rescue hole "numerous times. . . . That's been on the table since we arrived on site."

But Monday night, Murray and MSHA director Richard Stickler said they would attempt a capsule rescue only if they find a live miner. "I'm not optimistic they will be found alive," Murray said.

On Sunday, families of the six miners trapped underground since the Aug. 6 mine collapse called on the company and MSHA to drill a borehole large enough to lower a rescue capsule to search for the missing miners. On Monday, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. joined the chorus, asking MSHA to bring in the equipment.

At a news briefing Monday night, Stickler and Murray said that based on a consensus of mining experts they have assembled as advisers, they would attempt a capsule rescue only if they know they will find living men.

"We also believe this significant risk is unacceptable to send a miner underground <1,500 to> 1,600 feet, for the purpose of exploration," said Stickler, rebuffing the families' demands.

Two of the sausage-shaped capsules - both 21.5 inches in diameter - have been at the mine site since Aug. 11, MSHA has reported. But if used, a rescuer would have to go down the hole with the capsule in a mountain that is still moving. ...

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6676797



Above, Steve Allred, brother of trapped miner Kerry Allred
leaving his interview with ABC News. The Crandall Canyon miner's
families denounced the procedures and slow rescue efforts
of Murray Energy Corporation.