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HUNTINGTON - The families of the six men trapped in the Crandall Canyon mine broke their silence Sunday, lashing out at mine owners and federal regulators for what they see as a botched rescue effort.

Mine bosses not only failed the missing men, said Sonny Olsen, a spokesman for the families, "they failed us and our community."

As the sun set Sunday, some 75 members of the miners' families marched about 100 yards - children and infants in tow - from the Desert Edge Christian Chapel to a grassy area where the news media waited. None but Olsen spoke, reading from a statement prepared by the families.

"Of paramount concern is that they have failed to drill a hole large enough for an above-ground rescue attempt," said Olsen, a Price attorney who said the families asked him to speak on their behalf. "We have asked for the larger, 36-inch hole to be started from Day One. The officials in charge have skirted the issue."

The families' dramatic plea for using rescue capsule technology, which would send a capsule capable of carrying a rescuer down and a miner out of a large borehole, came a few hours after federal and company mining officials offered the bleakest assessment of the miners' fate to date.

"We have not lost hope that our loved ones are still alive and waiting to be rescued," Olsen said for the families.

The families specifically criticized the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), mine co-owners Murray Energy and UtahAmerican Energy, and the Intermountain Power Agency, which operates a coal-fired power plant fed by the Crandall Canyon mine.

Earlier Sunday, MSHA chief Richard Stickler and Murray Energy Vice President Rob Moore admitted they were discouraged by the results of the fourth 8 5/8-inch hole that was bored into a part of the mine rescuers hoped held enough oxygen to offer a safe haven.

Instead, they found oxygen levels inadequate to sustain life. Attempts to signal the miners were unsuccessful, and microphones and a camera lowered into the hole failed to detect any sign of the men.

In 2002, an escape capsule was used successfully at the Quecreek mine in Pennsylvania to save nine miners.

"It can be successful here," Olsen said. "We feel the three lives that were lost in the rescue attempt and subsequent injuries to the rescue teams could have been avoided if officials had heeded our requests."

On behalf of the families of the missing miners, Olsen expressed sympathy to the loved ones of three rescue workers killed and others injured Thursday when a section of wall collapsed.

"They are truly heros," said Olsen. "There are really no words to express towards our rescuers and for what they are trying to do to rescue our loved ones."

Mining officials are still consulting with a team of experts to determine if underground recovery efforts can be safely resumed. Meanwhile, Stickler said another 8 5/8-inch hole will be bored into an area of the mine where officials believe miners may have fled. But this time, officials acknowledged that area likely will hold no breathable air.

"The officials seem to now be standing around and scratching their heads, searching for a way to rescue these trapped miners," Olsen said. "Our families have concluded that [Murray Energy owner] Bob Murray, Richard Stickler and Rob Moore have given up on the miners."

Olsen concluded: "The rescue capsule is our families' last and only hope. ... If rescue is not possible, the capsule is the only method to recover our loved ones so they can have a proper burial."

After the families' news conference, Moore said in a telephone interview that drilling the large borehole and inserting rescuers into an escape capsule was not a practical option.

Drillers do not know where to position the hole, there does not appear to be a livable environment in the mine, and the mine continues to undergo movements or "bumps" like the deadly one that occurred Thursday, he said.

"We would be risking additional lives without knowing if we have live miners," Moore said.

The company told families Sunday morning that the large hole would be attempted only if there were signs any of the missing six are alive, he said.

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* Tribune reporter NATE CARLISLE contributed to this report.