Rescuers found no signs of life after drilling a fourth hole into a collapsed mine in the US where six workers have been trapped for nearly two weeks.

The search for six miners missing deep underground in the US was abruptly halted after a second cave-in killed three rescue workers and injured at least six others trying to tunnel through rubble to reach them.

Another attempt to sink a video camera deep inside a Utah coal mine where six miners have been trapped since a collapse a week ago yielded no signs of life, officials said today, frustrating crews trying to find the men.

Rescuers are to drill a third hole in a bid to locate six trapped Utah miners after a video camera revealed equipment, but no men.

With their efforts to drill deep inside a Utah mountain yielding no signs of six trapped miners, exhausted rescuers pondered alternatives including drilling another hole big enough to accommodate a human-size capsule to get inside tunnel.

A video camera lowered into a Utah mine where six workers have been missing for more than five days shows “survivable space”, but attempts to signal the miners were met by silence.

A video camera lowered into the mine where six miners have been missing for more than five days shows “survivable space”, a US official said today.

A second drill broke through to a Utah mine shaft today and a video camera was lowered inside, searching for the fate of six miners believed to be trapped nearly 2,000 feet below.

The massive rescue effort to find six coal miners caught in a cave-in took a disheartening turn when a narrow hole drilled more than 1,800ft into the earth yielded no sounds of life and barely any oxygen.

A TINY microphone lowered deep into the earth yesterday picked up no evidence six coal miners caught in a cave-in four days ago were still alive.

A tiny microphone lowered deep into the earth this morning picked up no evidence that six coal miners are alive four days after they were caught in a cave-in.

Crews drilling toward six trapped coal miners in Utah hoped to reach the area where they were believed to be by tonight and finally discover whether the men were alive, one of the mine’s co-owners said.

Rescue crews clinging to a Utah mountainside struggled to drill two narrow holes in a painfully slow effort to get air and food to six miners trapped in a cave-in.

Six miners in the US were trapped tonight after a coal mine caved in.

Crews were today removing about 3,000 tons of rock each hour in search of two men who have been trapped for almost two days under a pile of rubble in a western Maryland open pit coal mine.

A miner has been killed in an explosion in a coal mine in Pennsylvania.

Two and a half months after an explosion trapped and killed 12 men inside the Sago Mine in Tallmansville, Virginia, their colleagues headed back underground today and restarted the coal mining operation once again.

Methane gas exploded today in a coal mine in Alabama that had recently undergone a court-ordered inspection, but all miners got out safely, a federal mine safety official said.

Footprints inside the Sago Mine in West Virginia indicate the trapped miners tried to use a mechanised mine car to force their way out after the explosion, family members of the sole survivor said.

Families and friends of 12 men killed in a coal mine explosion in the United States prepared to say goodbye to their loved ones today as mine employees met company officials for the first time since the blast.

A TOP coal company official expressed regret last night that the families of the 12 dead miners were mistakenly led to believe for three hours that their loved ones were alive.

Rescuers who had penetrated more than 9,000 feet into a West Virginia coal mine where 13 miners were believed trapped were ordered to return to the surface today as a drilling crew prepared to punch into the mine with a 6 1/4 inch hole.