United States:The search for six miners trapped for 12 days in Utah was suspended yesterday after a further collapse killed three rescuers on Thursday evening.
"We have suspended indefinitely the underground portion of this rescue effort," Richard Stickler, head of the US federal government's Mine Safety and Health Administration, said.
He said rescuers would continue to drill holes through the top of the mountain to find the miners, who have not been heard from since a collapse on August 6th.
Mine officials said the three rescuers were killed when a "seismic bump" of 1.6 magnitude rippled through the Crandall Canyon mine, 220km (137 miles) south of Salt Lake City.
It was the 20th seismic event recorded at the mine since the first collapse on August 6th. One of the rescuers killed, Dale Black, was a cousin of one of the trapped men, Kerry Allred.
"These events seem to be related to ongoing settling of the rock mass following the main event," Lee Siegel, a spokesman for the University of Utah seismographic station, said.
"I don't think I'm going too far to say that this mountain is collapsing in slow motion."
Six other rescuers were injured in the latest collapse, although three were later released from hospital.
The governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman, yesterday called for an end to the underground tunnelling to find the missing miners. "We're pushing for that to cease right now unless the Mine Safety and Health Administration and others can guarantee that it can continue safely," he said.
"Whatever happens, we're going to want to ensure that it is done safely and that may take a little while. We as a state don't want any more injuries. We've had enough."
The cave-in was caused by an eruption of rock and coal under pressure from overhead rock as drilling removed surrounding rock and material shifted in an area of the mine.
Seismologists at the University of Utah said they recorded waves from the bump "consistent with further settling and collapse within the mountain".
It remains unclear what caused the first collapse. Owner Robert Murray has said it was triggered by an earthquake; geologists say it was not.
Controversy also arose over reports that the miners were engaged in dangerous "retreat mining" when the shaft collapsed. Mr Murray has denied such a technique was being used.
Retreat mining involves supporting a mine's roof with a column of coal, then removing that pillar and allowing the shaft to collapse as miners move to safety.
The Crandall Canyon mine is on a high desert plateau in what is known as Utah's "castle country" because of the towering rock spires that dot the rugged landscape.
Central Utah has long been rich, not just in coal deposits, but also in the great fortunes and deep despair that come with pulling it from the ground. Monuments and museums to past tragedies mark the roads and towns in the centre of the state.
The list of accidents stretches back at least to May 1900, when 200 men were killed by an explosion in the Winter Quarters mine, one of the worst mining accidents in US history.
- (Guardian service, Reuters)