The drilling of the sixth and final borehole into a Utah mine began Thursday as part of the last effort to save the six trapped miners.
The hole is being drilled in an area where the miners were last believed to have worked, according to The Associated Press.“This is the last hole,” said Bob Murray, CEO and co-owner of Murray Energy Corp., at a news conference Wednesday evening, according to CNN. “If we don’t find anybody alive in that hole, there’s nowhere else that anyone…would know where to drill.”
Previous holes drilled into the Crandall Canyon mine have failed to show signs of life.
Murray expressed little hope that the sixth hole will be any different, saying it was “totally unlikely” any signs of the miners will be found.
Six miners have been trapped in Crandall Canyon mine since the cave-in Aug. 6. Rescuers were hopeful at first when an earlier test indicated good air level and after detecting a “noise” or vibration last week.
Rescuers continued to be optimistic even after three rescue workers were killed and another six injured last Thursday during a third cave-in since the initial disaster.
However, last Sunday’s air test coupled with over two weeks of rescue efforts and no strong evidence of life forced officials to consider an end to the rescue operation.
The fifth borehole completed this past Wednesday found only a six-inch space between the roof and the rubble. No noise was heard from the hole after a microphone was lowered. A video camera and oxygen readings have not yet been performed in the fifth hole, said Jack Kuzar, a district manager for the Mine Safety and Health Administration, according to AP.
