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CNN Live Saturday

Rescuers Attempting to Fit Airlock to Save Miners

Aired July 27, 2002 - 16:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Renay San Miguel at CNN Center. "PINNACLE" is up next after this news alert.

Rescue efforts in southwestern Pennsylvania continue as folks there try to rescue miners who have been trapped underground for four days. Our Brian Palmer joins us now with the latest from Somerset, Pennsylvania -- Brian.

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Renay. The latest word we have from state authorities that the drilling has temporarily been suspended. That's not entirely bad news. The good news is it's suspended in the first escape shaft that they're drilling so that they can fit the shaft with an airlock which will enable them to break through the roof of the area where they think the miners are trapped.

Now the not so good news is in Shaft 2 -- a part of that drill, the stabilizer has broken, so they're hoping to fly in a new part as soon as possible and get that shaft going again, but the focus really now is on Shaft 1, and they say that work is progressing there -- Renay.

SAN MIGUEL: All right. Brian Palmer reporting from Somerset, Pensylvania. We will check in with you later. Thank you very much.

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