Mining deaths

The leading stories in the news is about the Utah miners that were trapped and now the deaths of three of the rescue workers. What a horrible ordeal for the families involved. The rescue attempts have been halted with the new collapse, and from the outside it's easy to say that they shouldn't have even done it in the first place. The mine is obviously dangerous. How hard it must be for the families involved though, to have to accept the fact that their loved ones are gone, not knowing if they're still alive or not. The news reports even early yesterday still called for hope that the oringinal miners were alive, although I fail to see how after a week underground. It's hard to give up hope without knowing for sure though. I feel horrible for the families and my thoughts and prayers go out to them, and to the loved ones of the miners killed yesterday as well.