Mine Safety Chief: Still Too Dangerous To Look For Bodies

Friday, October 12th 2007, 2:09 pm

By: News On 6

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ A mine where six men were trapped more than 1,500 feet below ground is still too dangerous to recover their bodies more than two months after the disaster, a safety official said Friday.

Richard Stickler, head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, said seismic activity is still occurring at the mountain location of the Crandall Canyon mine 120 miles south of Salt Lake City. A recovery effort would involve tunneling through rubble that is supporting walls inside the mine, Stickler said.

``That would create an unsafe condition,'' he said in an interview in Salt Lake City with The Associated Press before boarding a plane for Washington, D.C.

Stickler said the issue of recovering the bodies came up during a private meeting Thursday in Huntington with relatives of the six miners who were trapped in the Aug. 6 cave-in.

``We've left the door open on that. ... I didn't tell them it was impossible,'' he said. ``I told them we didn't have a safe way to do it at this time.''

Stickler said he was in Utah to also meet with agency staff investigating the mine collapse and what lessons can be learned. Three people died in another cave-in Aug. 16 while trying to clear a path toward the six victims. The search for the six miners was suspended Aug. 31.