This Week in EMS: A Recap for August 4 - 10, 2007

Utah rescue personnel - and the nation - remained in suspense Friday as a rescue operation continued for six coal miners caught in a cave-in four days ago.

Using a steel drill bit to bore a 2 1/2-inch wide hole into the mountain, rescuers finally broke through late Thursday into the cavity where they believe the miners are trapped. A crude measurement found sufficient air quality to keep the miners alive if they survived the collapse. However, it did not detect carbon dioxide, which the miners would exhale while breathing, and a tiny microphone picked up no human sound.

Despite the silence, rescuers remained hopeful and pressed on. Drilling continued on a second hole which would be wide enough to deliver food and water, and to accommodate a powerful camera to provide a view inside the pocket, and hopefully give a more definitive answer about the miners' fate.

Rescuers report that if the miners are alive, they are likely sitting in inky darkness, their headlamps having burned out. Wearing thin work clothes in the 58-degree cold, they could be chilled to the bone if water is seeping into their chamber 150 stories below ground. Each miner would typically have had a half-gallon of water.

Read the full article on this rescue operation, and watch EMSResponder.com for updates: Drill Reaches Presumed Location of Trapped Utah Miners.

At least nine people were injured Thursday afternoon when a monster truck performing stunts in front of an auto parts store in DeKalb, Illinois veered into a crowd of spectators.

All nine were taken to Kishwaukee Community Hospital in DeKalb, where a nursing supervisor reported that a mother and her 4-year-old daughter were airlifted to St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford with "serious" injuries.

Another mother and her four small children were among the nine people taken to Kishwaukee Community Hospital. The mother told WGN-TV that they suffered only minor scrapes but said her children were "traumatized."

Six people were treated and released, and one person was still being treated Thursday night but was listed in good condition.

For more on this incident read the full article, Nine Hurt at Monster Truck Stunt in Illinois.

More than a week after the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River, divers began recovering the bodies of people missing and presumed dead.

Two days after joining the search, Navy divers recovered the remains of two, or perhaps three, people from piles of debris from the Aug. 1 bridge collapse.

Officials reported that the dive team had been able to penetrate most of the debris field, the area where the bridge's deck collapsed. There are a few of those spots left to penetrate, after which "some debris may have to be removed significantly before we make additional recoveries," officials said.

It may become more difficult to positively identify remains now that they've been in the water more than a week. Medical Examiner Andrew Baker said dental records and DNA evidence would be used if needed.

For the latest on these recovery efforts and the collapse investigation visit Divers Find Remains from Bridge Collapse.

In an EMS tragedy this week, the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a Southwest MedEvac aircraft crash that killed five people.

The King Air E90 was reported missing shortly after 9:30 p.m. Sunday. A company spokesman said the crash occurred shortly after three crew members - a pilot, paramedic and a flight nurse - had taken off from a Ruidoso airport with one-year-old patient Lily Smith and her mother Tracy Smith, 41.

The aircraft was transporting the child and her mother to an Albuquerque hospital.

Soldiers with the New Mexico Army National Guard located the missing aircraft at about 5:15 a.m. Monday.