Utah mine will close if next rescue effort fails, mine boss says

HUNTINGTON, Utah (CNN) -- The Utah coal mine where six miners have been trapped for more than two weeks will be closed if one last rescue attempt fails to find signs they are alive, the site's co-owner said Wednesday.

"We're already discussing how we might ... honor the trapped miners and make this a site for perpetuity," said Bob Murray, co-owner of the Crandall Canyon mine outside of Huntington. "We are not giving up, however, that there might be life in there."

On Wednesday, rescuers finished boring a fifth hole into the underground space where the men were last believed to have been located, and a sixth hole will be started soon, Murray said.

But if no signs of life are evident, the mine will be shut down and turned into a tomb for the missing workers, he said.

"We're going to keep going until we run out of options -- but it's certainly looking dim," Murray said.

Rescuers have had no contact with the missing men since the mine collapsed August 6. Three rescuers were killed and six were injured in another collapse last Thursday, and officials said this week that the mine is too unstable to resume tunneling.

Officials have not yet announced what probes sent down the fifth hole have found.

"If we find life in the present bore hole or the next one we drill, then we will decide what we do then to try to rescue the live miners," Murray said. "But it's very doubtful at this time, and I told the families this three days ago."

Friends and family have identified the six missing miners as Luis Hernandez, Manuel Sanchez, Kerry Allred, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Don Erickson.

Their relatives have criticized Murray and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, accusing them of having given up their loved ones. Watch Bob Murray say the mine will shut down if last rescue try fails »

Signs reading "Bring them home" and "Bob Murray keep your promise" were posted overnight at the rescue effort's command post.

But Murray told CNN, "We're not going to risk more live people to go in there to get dead bodies." E-mail to a friend