US coal mine collapse traps six-Utah - Thread No. 3

[Earthbound Misfit I]

Robotic Camera Will Probe Mine; 7th Hole Planned
August 26th, 2007 @ 5:30pm


John Hollenhorst Reporting

A new twist today in the effort to locate six missing miners. A robot is going underground to look for them.

Jack Kuzar with the Mine Safety and Health Administration admits, "It's a long shot. I repeat, it's a long shot. But we owe it to the families to do everything possible to locate their loved ones."

Preparations are already underway to send a robotic camera down a drill hole at the Crandall Canyon mine in Emery County. The camera is capable of crawling through the mine.

The mine's owner also announced plans to drill a seventh hole in the three-week-old effort.

The rescue planners have clearly been under a lot of pressure from the families to do something more. So they're already making preparation for drill hole number seven tomorrow. And tonight they hope to send the robot down drill hole three or four.

The robot camera idea has been in the works since day one, they say. The device was assembled over the last week. It has two cameras and it's designed to be lowered down a drill hole and then crawl around the mine.

It's on a cable 1,000 feet long and it can theoretically climb over coal rumble in the mine. It's designed to send live video back to the surface through a mile of fiber optic.

The camera is similar to one used to search within the wreckage of the World Trade Center in New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It can take images in the darkened cavern from about 50 feet away with the help of a 200-watt light, can travel 1,000 feet from the end of the test hole -- a much wider range than previous cameras used in the search efforts -- and has some ability to move around the rubble, officials said.

More at link: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=1699404

 

[Earthbound Misfit I]

Note:

Please see Buzzm1's post for up to date information on where boreholes were drilled here: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1647058&postcount=114

* Aug. 6, 2:48 a.m.: Crandall Canyon mine collapse registers 3.9 magnitude. Six miners trapped, four escape.

* Aug. 6, afternoon: Rescue crews enter a tunnel parallel to the one the miners are thought to be in, only to find it has collapsed.

* Aug. 8, 10 p.m.: A 2 1/2 -inch drill penetrates the mine from above, but a microphone lowered into the cavity picks up no sound.
* Aug. 10, 12:10 a.m.: First air sample from 2-inch borehole has 20% oxygen; readings at 1:45 a.m. have it down to 7.2%, a level too low to sustain life.

* Aug. 11, 8:15 a.m.: Camera is dropped down a 8 -inch borehole. Images reveal a "survivable space," but no other signs of life.

* Aug. 12, 2 p.m.: New video images show mining equipment, but no signs of the miners. Rescue teams prepare to drill a third borehole, targeting tunnels deeper in the mine where the miners might have fled.

* Aug. 14, 6:30 p.m.: Miners have recaptured about 750 feet of the collapsed fresh-air tunnel, leaving 1,720 feet to go. They have endured a number of mountain "bumps" that threaten cave-ins and force rescue teams from the mine.

* Aug. 15, 10:15 a.m.: The third borehole intersects mine; microphone detects no sound.

* Aug. 16, 6:39 p.m.: Some 30 feet of the main tunnel collapses. Three rescue workers are killed, six others hospitalized. All rescue efforts are suspended.

* Aug. 18, 9 a.m.: Fourth drill hole penetrates mine. No signs of life.

* Aug. 22, 8:30 a.m.: Fifth drill hole reveals a 6-inch space in a tunnel filled with rubble.

* Aug. 25, 6 p.m.: Sixth borehole, which officials say will be the last, hits the mine. No air space is detected in a tunnel filled with rubble. Mine co-owner Robert Murray announces he is shutting down the Tower Mine outside of Price, citing safety concerns.

 

[Buzz Mills]

SNIP

The robot camera idea has been in the works since day one, they say. The device was assembled over the last week. It has two cameras and it's designed to be lowered down a drill hole and then crawl around the mine.

It's on a cable 1,000 feet long and it can theoretically climb over coal rumble in the mine. It's designed to send live video back to the surface through a mile of fiber optic.

SNIP
More at link: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=1699404

I'm going be surprsied if, once they get the camera down in the mine, and it begins climbing over rubble, 300-400 feet into the mine, they ever get it back.

 

[Earthbound Misfit I]

This is from the deseretnews.com website. It has a demonstration video showing what the robot camera can do.

Robot being used to search for miners, seventh bore hole to be drilled

[FONT=Verdana,Helvetica,Arial]By Wendy Leonard[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Helvetica,Arial]Deseret Morning News[/FONT]
Published: Aug. 26, 2007 3:28 p.m. MDT


Editor's note: To download a demonstration video of the robot, right click on this link (demonstration video) and save the file to your computer. The video file is about 2 megabytes in size and has been scanned for viruses.

The video has only been tested and watched with the QuickTime player program although other video player programs will also work.

More at link: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695204589,00.html

 

[cheko1]

Thank you RKnowley for all the helpful links:clap: :clap: !!!!

 

[Earthbound Misfit I]

You are so welcome cheko1!

Thank you RKnowley for all the helpful links:clap: :clap: !!!!

 

[cheko1]

I am very glad Murray has decided to give things another try for the families. This has been a very bad /sad situation for everyone involved.

If this is what will give the families peace of mind so be it.

 

[Earthbound Misfit I]

I agree. Let them drill until they can drill no more. That will most likely give the families the answers they are looking for. I do hope that the robot camera is able to do it's thing and not get stuck down there in the mine. I know that camera is a lot shot also but if there is anything that can be done, it should be done (tried).

I am very glad Murray has decided to give things another try for the families. This has been a very bad /sad situation for everyone involved.

If this is what will give the families peace of mind so be it.

 

[cheko1]

I agree. Let them drill until they can drill no more. That will most likely give the families the answers they are looking for. I do hope that the robot camera is able to do it's thing and not get stuck down there in the mine. I know that camera is a lot shot also but if there is anything that can be done, it should be done (tried).

I soooooooo agree with you! The families need to know anything /everything was done. I'm sure then they could accept the fact EVERYTHING imaginable was done. They don't want anymore lives put in danger & hopefully the robot will do its thing. I seriously have my doubts about the robot, I can't imagine it not getting tangled up in the rubble & it also becoming trapped.

 

[JanetElaine]

That's all they want. Real answers. The proven truth.

 

[cheko1]

That's all they want. Real answers. The proven truth.

I can truthfully say I'd be the same way. I could live with the truth......Murray hasn't been honest & all the families want is honesty regardless of the outcome. My thoughts & prayers are with the families. This has been torture for them.

 

[JanetElaine]

I can truthfully say I'd be the same way. I could live with the truth......Murray hasn't been honest & all the families want is honesty regardless of the outcome. My thoughts & prayers are with the families. This has been torture for them.

Amen.

 

[JanetElaine]

I posted this as a seperate thread, but also wanted to put it in here:

BEIJING — Two Chinese brothers clawed their way out of a collapsed coal mine after surviving underground for nearly six days, shocking grieving relatives who had burned money for the men's souls to use in the afterlife, state media said Monday.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294703,00.html

Also in the article:

Rescue work was halted after experts said there was no chance that the brothers from Inner Mongolia had survived, the Beijing News said. Efforts to extract them would have put rescuers at risk.
The Southern Metropolis Daily, a paper in the prosperous southern city of Guanghzou, raised doubts about the rescue efforts. The newspaper, known to test the limits of China's press restrictions, said more details should be provided about how the rescue was conducted and why it was ended.
The editorial quoted an unidentified official as saying the decision to abandon search efforts was made collectively by authorities at the rescue command center. The paper quoted the official as saying, "This collective decision was based on an industry expert's assessment that there was no way someone could survive in the mine."

I didn't know Murray owned mines in China. (Sorry. Am on a sarcasm-roll today, I guess).

But it does show you why the Utah miners' familes aren't just giving up.

 

[Buzz Mills]

Murphy said the camera will be lowered into either the third or fourth boreholes.

1414'--------------1586'------------1703'--------1865'------------2039'------------
3rd----------------4th---------------6th----------2nd--------------5th---------------rescue
Hole---------------Hole-------------Hole---------Hole-------------Hole--------------workers
CC147-<-520'->-CC143-<-520'->-CC139<260'>CC137-<-520'->-CC133-<-780'->-CC127
there's 130 feet between crosscuts

The fourth hole was drilled more than 1,500 feet into the mountain after mysterious vibrations were detected by aboveground monitors for about five minutes on Aug. 15. When that drill broke through three days later, there was silence. Crews spent at least four hours banging on the drill steel and setting off explosives in an effort to get a response, but without results.

Air monitors sent into that area of the mine showed insufficient oxygen to support life.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-26-mine_N.htm

 

[Earthbound Misfit I]

Officials Say Robotic Camera is a Long Shot in Search for Miners
August 27th, 2007 @ 12:30pm

I hope we are able to find out the results from the robot camera.


From the artlice:

<snip>
Now, again, we have not heard whether that $100,000 long shot has paid off. In fact, we were told by somebody close to mine owner Bob Murray that mine company officials won't hold any further press briefings.

We don't know if that applies just to the mining company or also to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. We're hoping for some kind of update from them, but we don't know whether they have plans to reveal any information from this robot camera.
We have been told that the families of the six trapped miners may get a briefing at 5 p.m. I'm guessing from what we've heard that that will involve only MSHA officials and not the mining company officials.
</snip>

More at link: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1705230

 

[Buzz Mills]

SNIP

We have been told that the families of the six trapped miners may get a briefing at 5 p.m. I'm guessing from what we've heard that that will involve only MSHA officials and not the mining company officials.
</snip>

More at link: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1705230

We'll just have to wait and see if the camera obtains anything worthwhile.

Per Robin Murphy: "The Crandall Canyon mine is one of the most challenging situations I've ever seen. And so frankly I give us less than a 50 percent chance of being able to come up with additional information.

I think that is an overstatement of odds on Robin's part. If the robotic crawler was just trying to navigate an open tunnel, it might work, but when you throw in 5-6 feet of rubble, and try to drag an umbilical cord over any of it, that's the ultimate challenge.

 

[cheko1]

Officials Say Robotic Camera is a Long Shot in Search for Miners
August 27th, 2007 @ 12:30pm

I hope we are able to find out the results from the robot camera.


From the artlice:

<snip>
Now, again, we have not heard whether that $100,000 long shot has paid off. In fact, we were told by somebody close to mine owner Bob Murray that mine company officials won't hold any further press briefings.

We don't know if that applies just to the mining company or also to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. We're hoping for some kind of update from them, but we don't know whether they have plans to reveal any information from this robot camera.
We have been told that the families of the six trapped miners may get a briefing at 5 p.m. I'm guessing from what we've heard that that will involve only MSHA officials and not the mining company officials.
</snip>

More at link: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1705230

Maybe some of the family members will let the news media know. That would be so nice!!!!

 

[CaliKid]

I feel very sorry for the families, but at some time this has to end. Unfortunately, their men are probably buried under tons of rubble.

 

[Buzz Mills]

I feel very sorry for the families, but at some time this has to end. Unfortunately, their men are probably buried under tons of rubble.

They say the odds are high that they were killed by the overpressure during the initial incident, and, or, buried at that time.

The thunderous collapse blew out the walls of mine shafts, filling them with rubble. If the men were not crushed by rock, their bodies could have been crushed by the immense air pressure generated by the collapse, mining executives and federal regulators have said.

And if they survived that, they could have died from lack of oxygen.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/08/17/news/nation/11_26_038_16_07.txt

 

[JanetElaine]

I understand what you're saying CaliKid but they'd rather it didn't end with lies and coverups. Also it is a very bitter pill to swallow when 'mistakes' were made and not every effort possible was put into the rescue operation. There won't be an end to this anytime soon, end of rescue efforts or not.