HUNTINGTON, Utah - Drilling will continue today after rescue workers failed to reach six coal miners trapped 1,500 feet below ground by a cave-in Monday.

The miners' conditions were not known, more than 16 hours after the cave-in.

"I'm very disappointed. That's one step backward," said Robert E. Murray, chairman of Murray Energy Corp. of Cleveland, part owner of the Crandall Canyon mine.

Rescue workers planned to spend the night bulldozing a road outside the mine to make way for a drilling rig that can punch holes large enough to improve ventilation and determine if the miners are alive, Murray said. Workers also planned to continue drilling elsewhere inside and outside the mine.

No contact had been made with the men, but they should have enough air and water to last several days, Murray said.

Some rescue crews "ran into impassable conditions and actually were driven out of here," Murray said, pointing to a map of the mine.

The mine is built into a mountain in the rugged Manti-La Sal National Forest, 140 miles south of Salt Lake City, in a sparsely populated area.

By mid-afternoon, rescuers were within 1,700 feet of the miners' presumed location.

In Huntington, about 10 miles from the mine, the miners' relatives waited for news at a senior center.

Many family members don't speak English. Mayor Hilary Gordon said she hugged them, put her hands over her heart and clasped them together to let them know she was praying for them.

"Past experience tells us these things don't go very well," said Gordon, whose husband is a former miner.

Ariana Sanchez, 16, said that her father Manuel, 42, was among the trapped miners.

She said she cried when her mother told her the news and that she is afraid "my dad is dead."

Judi Bishop said that her cousin, a miner for more than 30 years, is also among those trapped.

"I have hope. If you give up hope, you give up life," she said.

The miners were believed to be about four miles from the mine entrance. Rescuers spent the day working to free the men by drilling into the mine vertically from the mountaintop and horizontally from the side, Murray said.

University of Utah seismograph stations recorded seismic waves of 3.9 magnitude early Monday in the area of the mine, causing speculation that a minor earthquake had caused the cave-in. Scientists later said that the mine collapse had caused the seismic disturbance, which was reported to authorities about 4 a.m.

"The whole problem has been caused by an earthquake," Murray insisted.

Judi Bishop said she also believes that an earthquake hit.

"I've got plaster cracks in my walls and in my ceiling," Bishop said.

The Crandall Canyon mine performs "retreat mining," in which pillars of coal used to support the mine are eventually yanked to grab more coal.

"It's dangerous work, and been that way for 30 years," Leonard Reid, a safety inspector who works for the mine.

Government mine inspectors have issued 325 citations against the mine since January 2004, according to an analysis of federal Mine Safety and Health Administration online records.

Of those, 116 were for what the government considered "significant and substantial" violations - ones likely to cause injury.

In 2007, inspectors have issued 32 citations against the mine, 14 of them considered significant.

Asked about safety, Murray told reporters, "I believe we run a very safe coal mine. We've had an excellent record."

Emery County, the state's No. 2 coal producer, was also the site of a fire that killed 27 people in the Wilburg mine in December 1984.

Gordon said that the community is resilient.

"Tough people live here," she said. "There's a strong breed of people here. We'll pull through just like we have before."

A look at Huntington

Population: 2,131

Male: 1,071 (50.3%)

Female: 1,060 (49.7%)

Median age (years): 26.5

White: 1,969 (92.4%)

Hispanic (of any race)*: 264 (12.4%)

Black: 4 (0.2%)

Some other race: 122 (5.7%)

Median family income: $42,083

College graduates: 105*Hispanics Are Counted In Multiple-Race Categories, So Percentages Add To More Than 100. Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Coal-producing states

Utah ranks 14th:

Mines Production*

Wyoming 18 404,319

West Virginia 277 153,650

Kentucky 432 119,734

Pennsylvania 266 67,494

Texas 13 45,939

Montana 6 40,354

Colorado 13 38,510

Indiana 29 34,457

Illinois 20 32,014

North Dakota 4 29,956

New Mexico 4 28,519

Virginia 132 27,743

Ohio 54 24,718

Utah 13 24,521*Thousand Tons In 2005, Most Recent Year For Which Figures Are Available Source: Federal Energy Information Administration

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