Large-scale rescue bid for Maryland miners
Crews were today removing about 3,000 tons of rock each hour in search of two men who have been trapped for almost two days under a pile of rubble in a western Maryland open pit coal mine.
As the excavation continued into the night, rescuers still had not located the men.
The miners' chances of survival are now diminishing with each passing hour, said Bob Cornett, acting district manager for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Crews had removed more than half of the debris that buried the miners by last night.
The men were trapped on Tuesday morning when the bottom of a high wall collapsed, burying them and the equipment they were operating, Cornett said.
The collapse created a layer of rocks that ranges from 45 feet to 100 feet deep, but rescuers believe the collapse pushed the men and their equipment toward the shallower end.
"There are some very large rocks on that side that you can see gaps, spaces, vacuums or holes that potentially, if the machinery was pushed that way, there could be air pockets," Cornett said.
The miners were working at the bottom of the pit at the Tri-Star Job No 3 mine when the collapse occurred.
One miner was operating a tracked backhoe and the other was using a loader.
