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According to my news tonight, they’ve suspended digging out the mine shaft due to unstability but they are going to keep drilling a 4th hole and are hoping that they will find them and be able to extract them that way. Unfortunately, each day that goes by lessens the chance that they will be found alive 🙁
Hopefully, they can find them, alive (they have found ok levels of breathable air). If so, they can drill a hole (about 30 inches) that they can use to pull them up from. They probably won’t go in via tunnels though, because the tunnels in that section have become too unstable. Compared to mining in the east (Appalachians), the Rockies are very young mountains. They are much higher, so the amount of rock above a tunnel can be as much as 2000ft thick (in the east, average is 800 something). The Appalachian mounts are MUCH older, so they have worn down and settled more. The Rockies are a bit more ‘alive’ in that they are still growing and settle and shudder a lot more. Mining makes swiss cheese of these mountains, so the mountain will settle itself. That’s what happened to the rescuers. Bursts of air and rubble like what happened to the rescuers have been known to sever through mining equipement 😯 They can happen in a split second too, so you won’t know what hit you. If you hear the sound after such an event, you know you are alive (the sound is after the fact). They are very lucky only 3 were killed. Mining is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, but the pay is a lot. That’s one of the biggest draws to the job. There is no 100% safe way to do it, but the miners do take the precautions they can. Sadly, there are some of those who own and control mines I have to say don’t seem to worry too much about cutting corners. Those people make me mad 👿
Hopefully the noise that was heard was indeed the miners and they can be brought out via a hole *fingers crossed*
OK but without water over that time they are definately gonners for sure 🙁 I heard about it in Canada
You can go awhile without food, but 3 days without water means you are not going to survive. They were lost by day 5, unless they had supplies with them.
But the silence from below is the biggest thing telling us there is no hope of finding them alive. It’s sad that this happened, but it is one of those risks you take when you do this kind of work. And really, there is no way to make a mine totally safe, we’d like to think there was, but it is unrealistic.
My heart goes out to the families of these men. It has to be hard knowing everyday that you might not see them again, but to actually have it happen has to be devastating. You always hope it won’t happen to you.
Kyrin
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