神马文学网亨廷顿矿难--三死六埋
来源：百度文库 编辑：神马文学网 时间：2024/04/20 11:27:52
Mine Rescuers Halt Search After 3 Deaths
Al Hartmann/Salt Lake Tribune, via Associated Press
Relatives and friends waited Thursday outside Castleview Hospital in Price, Utah, for word on the injured.
By DAN FROSCH andN. R. KLEINFIELD
Published: August 18, 2007
HUNTINGTON,Utah,Aug. 17 — A sense of doleful finality settled on Friday over thequivering mountain here that swallowed six coal miners 11 days ago.
Skip to next paragraphEnlarge This Image
Rick Bowmer/Associated Press
An injured person from the Crandall Canyon Mine was taken on a gurney Thursday night into Castleview Hospital in Price, Utah.
Enlarge This Image
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Maria Lerma, center, awaited news about her husband with her daughter, right, and a friend. Her husband was not injured.
Enlarge This Image
Jae C. Hong/Associated Press
An ambulance leaves the Crandall Canyon Mine Thursday after a collapseinjured at least ten rescue workers in northwest Huntington, Utah.
Underground search effortsintended to find them were indefinitely suspended after crumbling wallsin the Crandall Canyon Mine killed two rescue workers and a federalmine inspector on Thursday evening.
With grim-faced authoritiesbaffled over when, or if, fresh teams can be sent in, the reality sankin among the hushed residents here that the six men, trapped 1,800 feetbeneath the surface, might never be found.
“People here arejust sick in the stomach about all of this,” said Joanne Carpenter,whose son was good friends with the son of Dale Black, a killedrescuer.
Ms. Carpenter and a handful of other residentsgathered at the Huntington Library, one of several places around townthat have become informal gathering places in the last 11 days. Thecave-in on Thursday, in which six other rescuers were injured, onecritically, was seen as a final affront to an extensive operationplagued by a mountain that has refused to sit still.
Precipitatedby a new succession of earth movements, the collapse raised questionsabout not only the safety of the mine, but also the wisdom of thetreacherous rescue operation.
About 130 people have beeninvolved in the rescue. At one point, 12 had requested to be reassignedfrom inside the mine to a different area of the operation because ofthe extreme hazards.
Others had volunteered to help. Cecil E.Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, issued astatement saying the deaths were “needless and preventable.”
Aspokesman for the union, Phil Smith, said that the plan to mine themountain should not have been approved by the federal government, andthat the rescue effort “should not have moved forward because themountain was in the process of collapsing and was clearly dangerous.”
Ata news conference almost drowned out by explosive thunder and heavyrain, state and federal authorities appeared shocked by the turn ofevents.
The director of the Mine Safety and HealthAdministration, Richard E. Stickler, said that the strongest availablesupport structure had been put in place to protect the rescuers,including fencing and steel buttresses, but that “obviously it was notadequate.”
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said he did not want additionalteams to descend into the mine until, and if, it could be adequatelyfortified, although drilling efforts from the surface were to continue.
“We have already experienced enough in terms of pain,” Mr. Huntsman said. He ordered flags in the state flown at half-staff.
Thegovernor promised to conduct an “unprecedented and comprehensive”investigation of the disaster and rescue work and to seek to improvemine conditions in Utah and throughout the country.
The people ofHuntington, who the night before had been high spirited at a benefitconcert for the trapped miners, were withdrawn and somber.
“Everyoneis affected here,” said Patsy Stoddard, editor of The Emery CountyProgress newspaper and a childhood friend of Mr. Black. “They are alllike brothers. If you’re in a coal mine 24 hours a day, you formlifelong friendships.”
Along the main artery of Huntington, some residents now saw the mine as almost cursed.
Thecollapse on Thursday, about 6:35 p.m., swiftly deflated the guardedlyhopeful mood buoyed by word earlier that noise had been detectedunderground.
That hope was jolted by the sight of ambulances,lights ablaze but sirens strangely silent, hurtling along the road thattwists through the jagged tree-topped mountains and the sight of medicsministering to injured workers.
Maria Lerma rushed up tosheriff’s deputies seeking word of her husband, a member of the rescuemission. Ms. Lerma and her daughter burst into tears when theauthorities informed them that he was alive and unhurt.
Indescribing the night’s accident, Mr. Stickler, the federal official,said tons of rock had settled over the mine tunnel in what is called amountain bump and caused walls to fall.
Rescuers at a depth of2,000 feet, Mr. Stickler said, were battered by shooting coal anddebris when 30 feet of a “rib,” or wall, exploded.
He said thathe could not know whether there was a way to resume underground rescueoperations and that mine-safety experts were being summoned for advice.
Mr. Huntsman,a Republican,said he doubted that a mine of this depth could be made safe for entryany time soon. He said he had sought counsel from Gov. Joe Manchin IIIof West Virginia, where 14 miners died in two mine accidents early lastyear.
Of the six injured rescuers, three remain hospitalized.The dead miners were identified as Mr. Black, whose age was not given;Brandon Kimber, 29; and an inspector for the Mine Safety and HealthAdministration, Gary Jensen, 53, who was based in Price.
Thesix injured rescuers were not identified as of Friday night, but one ofthose in serious condition worked for the federal safety agency.
Theintense effort to burrow into the collapsed mineshaft to find thetrapped miners was fraught with high risk from the beginning.
The mountain has been experiencing seismic jolts since the start of the assignment. Seismic specialists at theUniversity of Utah in Salt Lake City have recorded 22 readings of earth movement at the site since the original magnitude 3.9 shock.
Therehas been no sure indication that the miners are alive. Just a fewtantalizing sounds have been detected that could be the rustlings ofanimals or earth.
Progress has been painfully slow. The rescueteam had chewed its way 800 feet and had 1,200 to go to reach the mostlikely refuge of the trapped miners.
Robert L. Ferriter, anadjunct professor at the Colorado School of Mines, predicted that theaccident would lead to more emphasis on the safety of rescue teams.
Allthat remains of activity to find the miners is surface boring. Threebore holes had been drilled into the mine but found no sign of life.Officials expect a fourth hole to be completed on Saturday.
RobertE. Murray, co-owner of the mine and president of Murray Energy, who hasbeen the public face of the disaster, did not appear at the newsconference on Friday.
Rob Moore, vice president of the company, said he helped pull out rescuers after the accident.
Mr.Moore praised the three dead men as heroes and said Murray Energy would“continue to focus on efforts to save the trapped miners.”
DanFrosch reported from Huntington, and N. R. Kleinfield from New York.Libby Sander, Ian Urbina and Matthew L. Wald contributed reporting.
Al Hartmann/Salt Lake Tribune, via Associated PressRelatives and friends waited Thursday outside Castleview Hospital in Price, Utah, for word on the injured.
By DAN FROSCH andN. R. KLEINFIELD
Published: August 18, 2007
HUNTINGTON,Utah,Aug. 17 — A sense of doleful finality settled on Friday over thequivering mountain here that swallowed six coal miners 11 days ago.
Skip to next paragraphEnlarge This Image
Rick Bowmer/Associated PressAn injured person from the Crandall Canyon Mine was taken on a gurney Thursday night into Castleview Hospital in Price, Utah.
Enlarge This Image
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesMaria Lerma, center, awaited news about her husband with her daughter, right, and a friend. Her husband was not injured.
Enlarge This Image
Jae C. Hong/Associated PressAn ambulance leaves the Crandall Canyon Mine Thursday after a collapseinjured at least ten rescue workers in northwest Huntington, Utah.
Underground search effortsintended to find them were indefinitely suspended after crumbling wallsin the Crandall Canyon Mine killed two rescue workers and a federalmine inspector on Thursday evening.
With grim-faced authoritiesbaffled over when, or if, fresh teams can be sent in, the reality sankin among the hushed residents here that the six men, trapped 1,800 feetbeneath the surface, might never be found.
“People here arejust sick in the stomach about all of this,” said Joanne Carpenter,whose son was good friends with the son of Dale Black, a killedrescuer.
Ms. Carpenter and a handful of other residentsgathered at the Huntington Library, one of several places around townthat have become informal gathering places in the last 11 days. Thecave-in on Thursday, in which six other rescuers were injured, onecritically, was seen as a final affront to an extensive operationplagued by a mountain that has refused to sit still.
Precipitatedby a new succession of earth movements, the collapse raised questionsabout not only the safety of the mine, but also the wisdom of thetreacherous rescue operation.
About 130 people have beeninvolved in the rescue. At one point, 12 had requested to be reassignedfrom inside the mine to a different area of the operation because ofthe extreme hazards.
Others had volunteered to help. Cecil E.Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, issued astatement saying the deaths were “needless and preventable.”
Aspokesman for the union, Phil Smith, said that the plan to mine themountain should not have been approved by the federal government, andthat the rescue effort “should not have moved forward because themountain was in the process of collapsing and was clearly dangerous.”
Ata news conference almost drowned out by explosive thunder and heavyrain, state and federal authorities appeared shocked by the turn ofevents.
The director of the Mine Safety and HealthAdministration, Richard E. Stickler, said that the strongest availablesupport structure had been put in place to protect the rescuers,including fencing and steel buttresses, but that “obviously it was notadequate.”
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said he did not want additionalteams to descend into the mine until, and if, it could be adequatelyfortified, although drilling efforts from the surface were to continue.
“We have already experienced enough in terms of pain,” Mr. Huntsman said. He ordered flags in the state flown at half-staff.
Thegovernor promised to conduct an “unprecedented and comprehensive”investigation of the disaster and rescue work and to seek to improvemine conditions in Utah and throughout the country.
The people ofHuntington, who the night before had been high spirited at a benefitconcert for the trapped miners, were withdrawn and somber.
“Everyoneis affected here,” said Patsy Stoddard, editor of The Emery CountyProgress newspaper and a childhood friend of Mr. Black. “They are alllike brothers. If you’re in a coal mine 24 hours a day, you formlifelong friendships.”
Along the main artery of Huntington, some residents now saw the mine as almost cursed.
Thecollapse on Thursday, about 6:35 p.m., swiftly deflated the guardedlyhopeful mood buoyed by word earlier that noise had been detectedunderground.
That hope was jolted by the sight of ambulances,lights ablaze but sirens strangely silent, hurtling along the road thattwists through the jagged tree-topped mountains and the sight of medicsministering to injured workers.
Maria Lerma rushed up tosheriff’s deputies seeking word of her husband, a member of the rescuemission. Ms. Lerma and her daughter burst into tears when theauthorities informed them that he was alive and unhurt.
Indescribing the night’s accident, Mr. Stickler, the federal official,said tons of rock had settled over the mine tunnel in what is called amountain bump and caused walls to fall.
Rescuers at a depth of2,000 feet, Mr. Stickler said, were battered by shooting coal anddebris when 30 feet of a “rib,” or wall, exploded.
He said thathe could not know whether there was a way to resume underground rescueoperations and that mine-safety experts were being summoned for advice.
Mr. Huntsman,a Republican,said he doubted that a mine of this depth could be made safe for entryany time soon. He said he had sought counsel from Gov. Joe Manchin IIIof West Virginia, where 14 miners died in two mine accidents early lastyear.
Of the six injured rescuers, three remain hospitalized.The dead miners were identified as Mr. Black, whose age was not given;Brandon Kimber, 29; and an inspector for the Mine Safety and HealthAdministration, Gary Jensen, 53, who was based in Price.
Thesix injured rescuers were not identified as of Friday night, but one ofthose in serious condition worked for the federal safety agency.
Theintense effort to burrow into the collapsed mineshaft to find thetrapped miners was fraught with high risk from the beginning.
The mountain has been experiencing seismic jolts since the start of the assignment. Seismic specialists at theUniversity of Utah in Salt Lake City have recorded 22 readings of earth movement at the site since the original magnitude 3.9 shock.
Therehas been no sure indication that the miners are alive. Just a fewtantalizing sounds have been detected that could be the rustlings ofanimals or earth.
Progress has been painfully slow. The rescueteam had chewed its way 800 feet and had 1,200 to go to reach the mostlikely refuge of the trapped miners.
Robert L. Ferriter, anadjunct professor at the Colorado School of Mines, predicted that theaccident would lead to more emphasis on the safety of rescue teams.
Allthat remains of activity to find the miners is surface boring. Threebore holes had been drilled into the mine but found no sign of life.Officials expect a fourth hole to be completed on Saturday.
RobertE. Murray, co-owner of the mine and president of Murray Energy, who hasbeen the public face of the disaster, did not appear at the newsconference on Friday.
Rob Moore, vice president of the company, said he helped pull out rescuers after the accident.
Mr.Moore praised the three dead men as heroes and said Murray Energy would“continue to focus on efforts to save the trapped miners.”
DanFrosch reported from Huntington, and N. R. Kleinfield from New York.Libby Sander, Ian Urbina and Matthew L. Wald contributed reporting.