Robot camera, seventh bore hole: Glimmer of hope

HUNTINGTON — The families of six miners trapped 21 days ago in the Crandall Canyon Mine outside Huntington are hoping a high-tech robot camera and a seventh bore hole being cut in the area of the mine’s "kitchen," will yield clues to the trapped miners’ whereabouts, and whether they are still alive or have perished.

Father Donald E. Hope, pastor of Notre Dame de Lourdes Parish, Price, Good Shepherd Parish, East Carbon, St. Michael the Archangel Mission, Green River, and Mission San Rafael in Huntington, told the Intermountain Catholic in an Aug. 27 interview: "The families are holding out a little glimmer of hope the trapped miners are still alive. If they learn the miners have died, there is still hope their bodies can be recovered somehow."

The first massive mine collapse Aug. 6, trapped Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luís Hernandez, Juan Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips, and Manuel "Manny" Sanchez. A second collapse Aug. 16 killed rescue miners Dale Ray Black, Brandon Kimber, and Gary Jensen, and injured six others.

On Aug. 26, mine co-owner Robert Murray announced he is stopping work at another mine he owns in Utah, Tower Mine, and is laying off 170 people, which will affect miners from Crandall Canyon, Tower, and West Ridge Mines in Central Utah.

Fr. Hope has been meeting with family members, ministering to them and praying with them. Some families continue to join with members of the Mission San Rafael community daily to pray the rosary, depending on when meetings are called with mine officials.

"Families are at different stages of acceptance," said Fr. Hope. "Some are expressing concern for their children who have begun to ask questions. They would like to have answers for them. I don’t think the families are being unreasonable, they just need to know that everything that can be done is being done."

He said members of the Payan family were taken by mine officials to the area where they were drilling the sixth bore hole, "and it seemed to help the family to see that efforts were still being made."

Fr. Hope said there are so many things for which he would like people of faith to pray in light of this mine disaster. "We need to continue praying for the support of the families as each day goes by," he said. "I pray that the families have continued faith and they know that we will all be united when the Lord calls us to Himself."

Father Hope said all the families of the trapped miners have bonded throughout this experience, and the mining community has seen some barriers fall – barriers of race and religion.

"If you look at the signs around town, they all say, ‘God bless our six miners,’ not ‘our three miners,’ or ‘our two miners.’ Things like race and religion that sometimes separate us have come down. I hope people continue to pray for one another, because we all need God’s presence in our lives."

In his homilies this weekend, Fr. Hope said he encouraged members of the Catholic community to keep in mind not just the trapped miners and the ones who died, but all people who are still working in the mines and for those who have lost their jobs.

"Next weekend is Labor Day, and we should remember the energy we get as a result of the hard labor of people who work in the mines, the mail carriers who bring us word from our families far away, the journalists who work so hard to tell the story of what is happening here, and the people who collect our garbage who make our jobs and lives more comfortable. We should be trying to lift all these people up in prayer," Fr. Hope said.

Despite the unsuccessful attempts to locate the miners or their bodies, Fr. Hope said the families would like less uncertainty. "The families are leaning on each other. They need to feel as though they have some control over something. They want to feel as though they have some input into decisions."

Fr. Hope said he would like to see both groups – the families and the mine officials – come together to determine what is feasible.

"I don’t think these families want any more people to die in this effort, but they haven’t had the chance to make suggestions. That’s where the cries of outrage are coming from. There has been distrust and posturing. Somehow we have to get past all that."

Knights of Columbus, both on the state and local levels have been very generous in their support of the miners’ families and Fr. Hope’s ministry to them. The state organization has sent two checks for a total of $7,000 for the effort, and the local knights have contributed $800. A local business also has contribute $1000 to Fr. Hope’s ministry.

"Our work is getting harder and harder down here," Fr. Hope said. "But we can feel the support and the prayers of everyone on our behalf. The families are coming to grips with things as well as they can, and at different times. Some have accepted the miners’ deaths. Others have not. As this effort comes to a close, the families will depend on each other, on those they know they can trust, and on those who continue to pray for them."