Miners still not found after 3rd hole drilled

Richard Schulte

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Another attempt to sink a video camera inside a coal mine where six miners have been trapped since a collapse a week ago yielded no signs of life. The camera was paired with better lighting, but still only saw about 15 feet when it was lowered into the mine.

Two holes have already been drilled about 1,800 feet down into the mountain containing the mine. The first is a 2½-inch wide hole that rescue crews initially believed drifted during the drilling process into a neighboring sealed chamber. A microphone dropped into that first hole heard no sign of the miners and air samples recorded an atmosphere of only 7 percent oxygen _ measurements similar to those known to exist in a sealed area of the mine and an oxygen level that would not sustain life.