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The pillar mine in Huntington, Emery County in the central portion of the state is said to be about five miles from the epicentre of a 4.0 magnitude earthquake that occurred during the early morning hours.

88���ֳ� an hour later, the Mine Safety and Health Administration confirmed, a report came in that the mine had caved in.

“At about 5.40am EDT, the US Mine Safety and Health Administration was notified of an accident at the Genwal Resources Inc’s Crandall Canyon Mine,” verified agency spokeswoman Amy Louviere.

“A seismic or ground failure event was registered near the location of the mine this morning. There are six miners unaccounted for.”

The names and conditions of the miners are not known, and no communications between workers and rescuers or surface personnel have yet been successful.

Louviere added that rescue efforts are being coordinated between the agency and Genwal, which is a division of Robert Murray’s Utah American properties.

“Mine rescue teams are in the mine and are within about 2500 feet of where MSHA believes the miners were working,” she said, adding that MSHA also has two inspectors inside the mine.

“The area where the miners are believed to have been working is about four miles from the mine entrance. MSHA has family liaisons en route to the site.”

Murray spoke at a news conference Monday afternoon near the mine, confirming that rescuers aren’t sure if the miners survived the collapse.

“We know for sure where the six people are,” he said.

“We've got four ways to get to them, and we'll use them all if we have to. We’re sparing no expense to bring every mining machine we have in Utah.”

He later expanded upon his strategic thoughts, saying that crews are able to break through old access points.

“They're parallel to where these men are," he said.

“The idea is to get a hole into where they are, so all we have to do is drill across.”

University of Utah Seismograph Stations head Walter Arabasz told media outlets Monday that a link with wavelengths exists between the earthquake and the collapse.

“The seismic waves are consistent with the idea that the mine collapse caused the earthquake," he said, adding that not all information has yet been evaluated.

Murray, however, insisted in the news briefing that the collapse was second to occur, not first.

“The whole problem has been caused by an earthquake,” he said.

A command centre has been established about 15 miles from the operation, Utah American’s Teresa Behunin told outlets Monday afternoon.

The mine, with about 7 million tons of remaining reserves and employing two continuous miner units for its active sections, produced about 2Mt of output last year. It began operations in 1995, and last year was one of a collection of properties purchased by Murray Energy.