Mine boss: Still hope for finding miners alive

HUNTINGTON, Utah (CNN) -- Rescuers have found no signs of the six men trapped in a Utah mine for more than a week, but the mine operator's CEO insists there is still hope of finding them alive.

"I'm very disappointed to be telling you on the eighth day that we have not found six alive miners," said Bob Murray, president and CEO of Murray Energy.

"There are many reasons why one would believe that they still may be alive," he said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

The mine's roof is still in place, there is plenty of space for air and there is potable water in the mine, Murray said.

Rescuers were preparing to drill a third hole into an area where the miners might have gone in an emergency, said Richard Stickler, head of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

A fourth hole may also be drilled, depending on what the third hole shows, Stickler said.

Rob Moore, vice president of Murray Energy Group and co-owner of the mine, showed video from inside the mine at Monday's news conference.

Footage from a camera lowered into a roughly 9-inch hole showed equipment, but no signs of the trapped miners. Watch video from inside the mine »

The camera, which had to be cleaned and lowered back into the mine after its horizontal lens got dirty on the first attempt Saturday, showed a tool bag and a chain, both commonplace in mines.

Murray said the tool bag "no doubt" belonged to one of the trapped miners.

The camera also showed a 5½-foot-high space that authorities said the miners could survive in if there were enough air to sustain them. However, the limited light prevented the camera from picking up images farther than 15 feet away, Stickler said.

A microphone lowered into a smaller hole picked up no noise and attempts to signal the miners elicited no response. View photos from the rescue efforts »

The "recovery-and-rescue effort is very challenging" and the conditions are "very difficult," Moore said earlier. See the miners' profiles »

"Rescue" missions generally refer to those in which victims are believed to be alive; "recovery" missions generally refer to those in which the victims are thought to be dead.

The third hole will extend 1,414 feet diagonally into the mine. The hole will be shorter than the previous two and will pierce a different section of the mine.

Moore told The Associated Press that drilling the third hole could take up to six days.

Additionally, rescuers are pushing through from the mine's opening and have reached nearly 650 feet from the entrance. Rescuers have been impeded by earth movements called "mountain bumps," Stickler told AP.

The trapped miners are thought to be at least 1,900 feet from the entrance, Stickler said.

The going is slow there, he and Murray said, because of concern about oxygen-deficient air in the chambers of the mine.

"These are the worst mining conditions that I have ever seen in my 50 years of mining," Murray said. "And the progress is slow -- way too slow -- but we must not risk the lives of these rescue teams."

Murray said 134 mine employees are working on finding the miners.

Murray previously said he thought he knew where the miners were located. Stickler said Sunday that authorities know the miners are in the working section of the mine, but they don't know precisely where.

Friends and family have identified the trapped men as: Louis Alonso Hernandez, 23; Manuel Sanchez, 41; Kerry Allred, 57; Carlos Payan, 20s; Brandon Phillips, 24; and Don Erickson, 50. E-mail to a friend

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