No contact with Utah miners since collapse-owner

HUNTINGTON, Utah, Aug 7 (Reuters) There has been no contact with the six miners trapped 1,500 feet (450 metres) underground after a coal mine collapsed yesterday in central Utah, and it is not known if they are alive or dead, the director of the mining operation said today.

Bob Murray, president and CEO of Murray Energy, which owns the mine operator, told reporters it could take three days to cut through the rock to reach the miners.

''The families are doing fine, considering the circumstances,'' he said, as rescue workers continued to try to approach the trapped miners.

The Crandall Canyon Mine caved early on Monday with such force that U S geologists are investigating whether it accounted for a 3.9 magnitude earthquake registered nearby around the same time.

Murray insisted that an earthquake caused the mine collapse.

''This was an earthquake, contrary to what others might have you believe,'' he said.

REUTERS AE HT2142