A microphone lowered Saturday into a fourth hole drilled into a collapsed coal mine showed no signs of six men trapped for nearly two weeks, another blow in a rescue effort that has killed three other people.

“We did not detect any signals from miners underground,” said Richard Stickler, head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

With underground tunneling halted, officials had hoped a fourth hole drilled into the mine would finally offer clues to whether the men were alive 1,500 feet below ground.

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