HUNTINGTON, Utah — With rescuers still at least three agonizing days away from reaching six trapped coal miners, the mine’s owner and the government split sharply yesterday over whether an earthquake caused the cave-in and the men were engaged in an often-dangerous form of mining. An irate Robert Murray, chairman of Murray Energy Corp. of Cleveland, lashed out at journalists for suggesting his men were conducting “retreat mining,” in which miners pull down the last standing pillars of coal and let the roof fall in.

“This was caused by an earthquake, not something that Murray Energy … did or our employees did or our management did,” Mr. Murray said, his voice often rising in anger. “It was a natural disaster. An earthquake. And I’m going to prove it to you.”

However, government seismologists said the pattern of ground shaking picked up by their instruments around the time of the accident Monday appeared to have been caused not by an earthquake, but by the cave-in itself.

And Amy Louviere, a spokeswoman for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration in Washington, said the men at the Genwal mine were conducting retreat mining.

However, Ms. Louviere said that exactly what the miners were doing, and whether that led to the collapse, can only be answered after a full investigation.

Retreat mining has been blamed for 13 deaths since 2000, and the government requires mining-companies to submit a roof control plan before beginning such mining. Such a plan details how and when the pillars will be cut and in what order. Genwal had submitted such a plan, and received approval in 2006, Ms. Louviere said. “As long as they abide by that plan, it can be a very safe form of mining,” she said. “What we’ve found with recent fatalities that the operator was found to not be following the roof control plan.” Meanwhile, rescuers made frustratingly slow progress in their effort to break through to the six miners 1,500 feet below ground. And Ms. Murray said yesterday that even if all went well, it would still take three days to reach the chamber where the men were believed to be.

More than a day and a half after the cave-in, rescuers were unable to say whether the men were dead and alive, and had not even heard any pounding from their hammers, as miners are trained to do when they get trapped.

“The Lord has already decided whether they’re alive or dead,” Mr. Murray said. “But it’s up to Bob Murray and my management to get access to them as quickly as we can.”

Mr. Murray said if the men were not killed by the cave-in itself, he believed there was enough air and water for them to survive for days. But the government’s chief mine inspector in the West was not as confident.

“We’re hoping there’s air down there. We have no way of knowing that,” said MSHA’s Al Davis.

Mr. Murray said there were 30 pieces of heavy mining equipment in place and 134 people dedicated to the rescue. Two C–130s from the Air Reserve in Pittsburgh were being sent with seismic equipment and staff.

The trapped miners were believed to be about 3 1/2 miles inside the mine, situated 140 miles south of Salt Lake City. Rescuers were able to get within 1,700 feet Monday but had advanced only 310 feet more, Mr. Murray said around midday yesterday.

The head of MSHA, Richard Stickler, arrived from Washington and said “ongoing seismic activity, bumps, movements of the mountain” had forced rescuers to move slowly.

After meeting privately with family members of the miners, Mr. Murray outlined plans to bulldoze a mountain path and erect a seismic listening device outside the mine that could reveal whether any men were alive.

Four miners escaped, but they were not in the same area as their trapped brethren, according to Mr. Murray.

Last night, Mr. Murray said seismic activity had “totally shut down” efforts to reach the six miners. “We are back to square one underground. … We should know within 48 to 72 hours the status of those trapped miners,” he added.