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Sam Penrod reportingThe top story of 2007 likely ranks as the biggest Utah news story in years, and it captured the attention of people all around the world.
It's the disaster at the Crandall Canyon Mine this summer, when six miners died and three workers were killed trying to rescue them.
The bad news began to spread very early in the morning on Aug. 6. A collapse deep inside the Crandall Canyon Mine had trapped six miners.
On that day, mine owner Robert Murray said, "We have undertaken four different ways to get to these men. One of these four ways will get to them first, and then we will know what we have."
People around the country, even the world, were glued to their TVs waiting for any news during daily press briefings. Three days later, the first drill hole to reach the mine brought disappointing news: No sound from the miners and poor oxygen levels.
But hope remained as the drilling continued into different sections of the mine.
On Aug. 16 Murray said, "The seismic activity underground has been relentless, and the mountain is still alive. The mountain is still moving, and we can't endanger the rescue workers."
Just seven hours after Murray said that, tragedy struck again. This time, a major seismic bump inside the mine killed two rescue workers and an MSHA inspector.
The next day, Governor Jon Huntsman said, "Yesterday we went from a tragedy to a catastrophe. The best thing all of us can say at this point is to express love and sympathy and condolences."
The underground rescue effort for the six miners was over. But the thought of giving up and leaving the six men behind was too much for their families.
On Aug. 23, family spokesman Sonny Olson said, "We want our families' members returned to us alive and, heaven forbid, dead. Don't let them leave them in the mine."
Eventually the drilling stopped, and hope was lost. Utah's coal country came together to grieve and offer support. Talk of mine safety even hit the halls of Congress.
But it is the faces of the six men trapped in the mine, and the three men who lost their lives trying to rescue them, that remind all of us just how tragic the disaster at the Crandall Canyon Mine really is.
Mine owner Robert Murray has been issued a subpoena to testify before Congress about the disaster. That hearing will likely happen this winter in Washington, D.C.
