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WASHINGTON - Seismic equipment meant to help rescuers hear signals that six trapped miners are alive may not be useful even if it can be set up quickly.
Rescuers are hoping to use a seismic device to listen for the miners, optimistic they can establish the miners survived a collapse and locate their exact position. But previous uses of such a device never have been successful, reports after the Sago mine disaster show.
It was unclear Tuesday whether the same equipment is planned to be used at the Crandall Canyon mine disaster, but investigations after the Sago mine tragedy - which killed 12 miners in West Virginia in 2006 - found the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) equipment is "old, outmoded, cumbersome and time-consuming to deploy."
The equipment was never set up for the Sago disaster because it would have taken too long, reports show.
"The seismic location system has never located a trapped miner," an internal probe by MSHA found.
Pam Campbell, whose brother-in-law, Marty Bennett, was killed in the Sago mine disaster, says she is concerned that MSHA may be using the "same outdated, dinosaur equipment" that was never deployed in Sago because it wouldn't have worked.
"I do believe they're giving them false hope," Campbell added, referring to the families of the miners.
Celeste Monforton, a researcher at George Washington University who was part of the team looking at the response to the Sago mine, says she has concerns about the same equipment being used.
"You need to let them know what it's capable of and what it's not capable of," Monforton said. "The families [of the trapped miners] at least need to know that it has limited capabilities."
A report for West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, published in July 2006, says that MSHA acknowledged that, "contrary to the upbeat information about its seismic system posted on the agency's Web site, 'MSHA's experience has shown [that] application of the seismic technology is very limited.' "
Despite the concern, Campbell says the community in West Virginia that lived through a similar event in 2006 is feeling for the Utah families.
"All the Sago families want them to know our hearts are with them and our prayers are with them," Campbell said.