New Utah Mine Images Instill Hope

CBS) HUNTINGTON, Utah

Curtain Could Indicate That Miners Were Able To Find Good Air Images from a video camera lowered Wednesday into the mine where six men were trapped 10 days ago showed an undamaged shaft and a curtain that could mean the men, if they survived the initial blast, found breathable air, the mine's co-owner said.

Rescue officials were reviewing the images late Wednesday, which were the first from a camera lowered into the third borehole drilled into the mountain. It showed a hemp ventilation curtain that divides intake air in the mine from the exhaust air.

If the miners passed through the ventilation curtain, they would be in a pocket of good air, mine co-owner Bob Murray told The Associated Press late Wednesday.

"There was no damage at all. The roof is intact; no ribs have outburst. The floors are in place -- it looked just as it did when we mined it," he said.