State considers drilling equipment to improve mine rescue

State considers drilling equipment to improve mine rescueAugust 30, 2007 3:31 PM
CHARLESTON, W.Va.
West Virginia mine safety officials are taking to heart a lesson from the unsuccessful efforts to rescue six men trapped deep inside a Utah coal mine.They've decided to make sure the state is ready to drill holes large enough to reach miners trapped hundreds of feet below the surface.
State Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training engineering consultant Randy Harris says that's the next step for state mine safety efforts after the Crandall Canyon mine collapse.
Harris says Miners' Health, Safety and Training wants to compile a list of equipment capable of drilling 30-inch diameter holes.
Such holes would allow rescuers to send escape capsules down to trapped miners.
And Harris says the agency wants to figure out how to have the equipment available at a moment's notice.