32 rescuers attempt to find 4 missing miners, but turn back after 5 search hours (photos)

32 rescuers attempt to find 4 missing miners in West Virginia mine, but turn back after 5 search hours. Thursday morning rescuers were able to resume rescue efforts at 5 am when 32 rescuers re-entered the coal mine to search for possible survivors. At 10:15 am, rescuers were asked to come out when the gas levels inside the mine reached an unsafe level that created an “explosive atmosphere.”

Thursday morning, Kevin Stricklin from the US Mine Safety and Health Administration said that the gases created an "explosive atmosphere" in the mine. "We think [the rescuers] are in danger and that's the whole intent of evacuating."

"It is still a rescue mission," Stricklin said.

Govenor Manchin of West Virginia said Wednesday: “The only chance ... we still have yet is if [the missing miners] could have made it to the chambers." The chamber has water, food and oxygen to keep 15 miners alive for 96 hours, he said.

"We're focused," Stricklin said. "It is what it is and this is what we're dealing with right now. It's nothing compared with what the families are going through. And I always try to keep that in mind that we'll do whatever it takes to bring this to some type of conclusion."

The highest death toll in a mine accident prior to this was in Orangeville, Utah in 1984 when 27 people died in a fire at the Emery Mining Company, according to the Associated Press.  Utah now has some of the safest mines in the country, according to an MSNBC report yesterday.   

To see photos of the mining area after the explosion, click here.

The video below is a CNN interview with a woman who lost her son, brother and nephew in the mine explosion. The woman saw her son just a day before the explosion, and she thought he knew that something was going to happen.

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