HUNTINGTON, Emery County — Five years ago, in the early morning hours of Aug. 6, the Crandall Canyon Mine collapsed in Huntington trapping six workers.

The Crandall Canyon Mine near Huntington collapsed that day, and after rescue efforts failed, it entombed six miners: Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Arturo "Manuel" Sanchez. The collapse of the mine's walls 1,800 feet underground happened with such force it registered as a 4.2-magnitude seismic event.

Ten days later, on Aug. 16, the mine collapsed again, killing three would-be rescuers — Ron Black, Gary Jensen and Brandon Kimber — and six other rescuers suffered serious injuries.

"Yesterday we went from a tragedy to a catastrophe," said Governor John Huntsman on Aug. 17.

Rescue efforts ceased and the six original victims remained buried.

The government cited Murray Energy for negligence and leveled fines, but no individuals were ever held criminally responsible. Most of the families settled lawsuits with the company, though they never disclosed how much the company paid to settle. One case remains filed by a man who went into this mine to save lives and nearly lost his own in the second collapse.

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No plans to reopen Crandall Canyon Mine, company says

A Murray Energy official said Saturday the company has no current plans to re-open the Crandall Canyon Mine, where six miners and three rescuers remain buried from a collapse in 2007.

"I was scared to death to go up there but you can't just leave these people in here to just die," said Mitch Horton, who went in the mine as a rescuer just before the mine collapsed again.

What Mitch Horton experienced in the Crandall Canyon mine still haunts him. He has replayed the last conversation he had with fellow rescuer Dale "Bird" Black over and over in his mind.

"He just says, ‘you better get a roll of duct tape and tape it around your hard hat underneath your chin because this next bounce is going to be a ripper,' " Horton said of the conversation with his fellow rescuer.

Within minutes, a second collapse caved in the roof.

"Bird was gone," Horton said. "There was others. You could hear them screaming. The whole time. You couldn't see them you could just hear them."

Horton suffered serious knee and elbow injuries, and he lives with PTSD.

"I get panic attacks," he said. "I deal with depression all the time, anxiety."

In his lawsuit, Horton contends Murray Energy executives and their experts should have made the decision to call off the rescue earlier.

"They had to know every day that we went in there, there were going to be more workers killed and was that necessary? They shouldn't have left that to the regular workers," Horton said.

Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray received heavy criticism for his company's dangerous coal-mining strategies before the collapse and for some actions after. The federal regulatory agency, Mining Safety and Health Administration, also drew strong denunciations for lax oversight.

"What we saw in the Crandall Canyon Mine situation is Bob Murray and his people were getting their way with MSHA, too much," said attorney Colin King, who negotiated the settlement for the families of those who died.

"I do think it was enough to provide economic incentive to Murray Energy and the other entities involved and people would be crazy if they didn't take heed to these payoffs, which were very significant," King said.

Horton hopes his lawsuit will cover the costs of his medications and lost wages. He still works in a mine but says many days he simply can't go back in.

"I'll never get over it. I mean I still have nightmares," Horton said. "Some days I can go through a day and not have to think about it, other days it is always on my mind."

Digging coal has always been a potentially dangerous job but critics tend to agree that this tragedy and its aftermath have had at least one beneficial affect — putting more pressure on government and industry to make coal mining safer throughout the country.

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