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The coalmine disaster was accompanied by a seismic shock that registered 3.9 on the Richter Scale. CBS' John Blackstone saw "safety and legal issues swirling" as the mine's owner, Robert Murray of Utah American Energy, insisted that "the earthquake triggered the collapse." However, NBC's Tom Costello consulted experts who disagreed: they concluded that the seismic tremors "may not have been an earthquake but rather the mine collapse itself." Since the accident was a roof collapse, not a noxious-gas explosion, ABC's Neal Karlinsky was assured that if the men are alive "they are likely in an area with plenty of air and water so they could survive for days." Still they are 1,500 feet below ground and almost four miles from the entrance.
ABC's Karlinsky cited statistics from Mine Safety & Health News, that the Crandall Canyon mine has a good safety record with an accident rate half the national average. Yet the technique of coal extraction they were apparently following, called retreat mining, raised eyebrows: ABC's Karlinsky called it "risky;" NBC's Costello "dangerous;" CBS' Blackstone "increasingly rare." Blackstone diagramed how retreat works: "Burrow into the vein leaving pillars of coal to support the roof. Once they had exhausted the area, miners retreat, collecting the coal pillars as they go, allowing the roof to fall in a planned collapse." His colleague Wyatt Andrews added that retreat mining "is a lucrative business" but is "an especially dangerous practice in Utah, experts say, because of the known shifting rock patterns in the mountains."
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