Tests not clear on fate of miners

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.

But an air sample indicated there was enough oxygen to breathe in the chamber where the miners were believed to be trapped, and rescuers promised to keep digging toward them.

Using a steel drill to bore a two-inch-wide hole 1,800ft into the mountain site of Monday’s cave-in, rescuers broke through late on Thursday. Though a crude air sample indicated plenty of oxygen and no methane in the pocket, it did not pick up carbon dioxide, the gas exhaled when people breathe.