Drilling Begins in Effort to Reach Miners : Blast: Workers labored overnight, cutting through 900 feet of rock to lower instruments to area where 8 men are believed to be.

Rescue workers hoping for a miracle worked through the night Tuesday drilling an air hole into a shaft where eight coal miners were trapped by a violent explosion that shook a southwestern Virginia mountainside near here early Monday.

Efforts to reach the men through shafts running a mile into the mountain were thwarted by the presence of gas that could have caused another tragedy and officials suspended the rescue attempt about mid-day.

Instead, workers turned Tuesday afternoon to drilling an eight-inch-diameter hole through 900 feet of rock so that instruments could be lowered into the area where the miners were believed to be at the time of the blast.

Working in freezing temperatures after nightfall, drillers were cutting through 50 feet of rock each hour, suggesting that it would be late Wednesday before the opening could be created.

Hope for the men’s survival waned as the hours wore on but relatives and family friends continued a vigil near the mine’s portal, taking shelter in a tent and in vehicles parked nearby.

Light snow fell during the day, and after nightfall temperatures fell into the 20s.

One miner, who was nearer the entrance, managed to crawl to safety after the blast. Identified as Robert K. Fleming, he was being treated at St. Mary’s Hospital in Norton, Va. A spokesman said Fleming had undergone surgery and was being treated for burns, but was in stable condition.

Each of the trapped men carried about one hour’s supply of oxygen but larger fixed tanks are available at intervals in the mine shafts.

If the workers survived the blast, it is assumed that they barricaded themselves near the mine face where they were working to preserve oxygen.

Once the hole is drilled, instruments will be lowered to determine, first, whether a fire is still burning. If there is no fire, safety experts will assess gas levels to determine whether new attempts can be made to reach the men.

Because the surface above the chamber had been strip-mined, trees had been cleared away and the surface was level enough that a drilling rig was able to begin operation as soon as the decision to drill was made.

Although mining communities have lived with the threat of such accidents for generations, the early morning blast cast a pall over the remote mountain coal country.

Reporters were kept at a distance but could see stunning evidence of the explosion’s violence. Buildings on the surface were heavily damaged and vehicles parked nearby were seared.

In the hours after the explosion, rescuers working their way through two of four chambers got about 2,800 feet into the mine before being driven back by smoke, heat and methane.

The mine, owned by the Southmountain Coal Co., opened in 1990. Records of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration show that, while it has had no fatalities, the mine has an injury rate nearly triple the nation’s average.