More bad news at site of Utah mine rescue attempt

Via CNN:

HUNTINGTON, Utah (CNN) — Three rescue workers were killed and six injured Thursday night during an apparent “seismic bump” at a Utah mine, according to state and hospital officials.

The workers were attempting to reach six miners who have been trapped in the Crandall Canyon mine since an August 6 collapse. There has been no contact with those miners.

Emergency work to clear a tunnel leading to the trapped miners will resume once the mine operator receives safety clearance from federal officials, Murray Energy Group Corp. spokesman Michael Knowles said.

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. early Friday said “underground mining for the time being is going to cease” but added above-ground work to drill a fourth hole into the mine would continue.

Huntsman said he would meet with officials from the Mine Safety and Health Administration and Murray Energy Group “to get word on what they expect to do in hours and days ahead.”

The three who died did so in a “remarkable act of selflessness,” Huntsman said. “There is nothing more selfless than giving one’s life while rescuing another.”

He also pledged to improve mine safety — “not only in Utah but throughout the country.”

They just can’t catch a break out there. There’s a lot of sadness right now in Huntington, Utah. Keep praying.