04-09-2010, 08:06 AM
0
this morning, Friday, April 9.
Naoma, West Virginia (CNN) -- Rescue crews searching for four missing miners were evacuated Friday from a West Virginia coal mine after encountering smoke.
The smoke was moving, signaling an active fire somewhere in the mine, said Kevin Stricklin of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. The situation was too dangerous for the rescuers to remain, he said.
Before their retreat, the rescue crew found one of two airtight safety chambers where the miners might have taken shelter after Monday's explosion, Stricklin said. The chamber had not been deployed, he said.
Rescuers now intend to drill more boreholes into the Upper Big Branch coal mine and pump nitrogen into the burning area to deprive the fire of oxygen.
The hope, though slim, is that the four missing miners were able to survive by entering one of the chambers, which were stocked with enough food, water and air to keep 15 miners alive for four days.
Naoma, West Virginia (CNN) -- Rescue crews searching for four missing miners were evacuated Friday from a West Virginia coal mine after encountering smoke.
The smoke was moving, signaling an active fire somewhere in the mine, said Kevin Stricklin of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. The situation was too dangerous for the rescuers to remain, he said.
Before their retreat, the rescue crew found one of two airtight safety chambers where the miners might have taken shelter after Monday's explosion, Stricklin said. The chamber had not been deployed, he said.
Rescuers now intend to drill more boreholes into the Upper Big Branch coal mine and pump nitrogen into the burning area to deprive the fire of oxygen.
The hope, though slim, is that the four missing miners were able to survive by entering one of the chambers, which were stocked with enough food, water and air to keep 15 miners alive for four days.