Utah Mine Caves In

I was reading a story just miniutes ago, it is 11:37 a.m. as I am writing this about the coal mine cave-in in Utah and we have another send are best wishes and prayers incidents.

It has got to be so terrifying to be in that cave if they are alive, as I had heard reports before I came to work that they have only the lights on their helmets, some water, and that is about it. They said that due to the fact that they would not know how long until a rescue, that standard procedure would be to leave the lights off as much as possible, so being 1500 feet down, and nearly four miles inside the ground, they would be in Total darkness. Now I know that this is their jobs, but just thinking of that kind of darkness makes my chest tighten.

These are incredibly brave men who do a very hazardos job to provide the coal which powers much of this country. I know "choose" to work in this type of job, but they are still deserving of a little extra appreciation for that work. Thank you to all who provide our energy resources, without which we would not have much of a country.

May the press please give the families a little breathing room, while they await word of their loved ones, instead of acting like "vultures waiting to feed on a corpse", as is usually the case in these tragedies.

There was a mention of "retreat mining" occurring when the collapse occurred, which is when they intentionally knock out the coal pillars in the cave to get the last bits of coal from the mine they are abandoning, but the story attached to the link has the owner denying that it was being done. He said the earthquake nearby caused the cave-in, so we will need for investigators to provide the cause later on.

For now we can just watch, wait, and pray, that they are found alive.


Efforts to reach six coal miners trapped more than 1,500 feet underground will take at least three days, and rescuers weren't even sure the men had survived the cave-in, one of the mine's owners said Tuesday.

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