Apparently, seismic activity within the mountain in which the miners are trapped in Utah has not only stopped efforts to rescue them, but has also undone the work done so far to get to the miners.
There’s been a lot of conflicting reports as to whether or not the mine collapse was cause by an earthquake or whether the seismic activity that was originally thought to be an earthquake was caused by the mine collapsing. Of course, the owner of the mine insist, and says he KNOWS, it was an earthquake that caused the mine to collapse. Of course, he has a definite vested interest in it having been caused by an earthquake rather than that the mine collapsed. Seismologists are still evaluating data in an attempt to determine which of those events caused the other.
Since the aftershocks this afternoon caused more damage, they are reporting that it will be at least a week before they can hope to reach the trapped men. The owner of the mine says that there is still hope as they have access to water and air, if they were not killed in the initial collapse. I have no idea how they could know that since they don’t know how much collapsed.
The video below is of the news conference that was held late this afternoon following the aftershocks.
I can’t imagine what the families of these men are going through.