Rescue effort halted at Utah mine

HUNTINGTON, Utah, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Efforts to reach six trapped miners were suspended Friday after a collapse killed three rescue workers at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah.

Richard Stickler, the assistant secretary of labor in charge of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, said the rescue effort would only be resumed if it could be done safely, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported.

The cave-in Thursday evening also injured three people. Two of the dead were believed to be miners, one of them a cousin of one of the men they were trying to save.

Stickler described the cave-in as a "mountain bump" and said it occurred about 2,000 feet below the surface.

"When that energy is released, it's like an explosion," he told the Tribune. "The force of that blast completely destroyed the ground support we had put in place."

The Aug. 6 collapse stranded six miners almost 2,000 feet down in the mine. Three communication holes drilled through the rock haven't located the miners.