An attempt to make contact with the trapped miners was unsuccessful Friday, when a microphone lowered into a narrow hole drilled into a mine cavity detected no sounds.

CNN: Camera lowered into mine cavity shows 'survivable space'

Over the following nine minutes, air traffic controllers frantically tried to make contact with the cockpit, from which only heavy breathing and electronic noises could be heard before the microphone finally went dead.

BBC: Australian 'ghost flight' still a mystery