Salt Lake City ? The Crandall Cranyon mine has become a tomb, leaving the families of the six men trapped inside with no clear way to say goodbye.

With the search for the miners lost in an Aug. 6 collapse suspended, relatives are now faced with finding a way to grieve for and remember Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Manuel Sanchez – even though the men’s bodies were never found.

The experience of having a loved one permanently entombed in a mountain is much like having a family member lost at sea or missing in action in war, said Dale Lund, a professor at the University of Utah who is an expert on bereavement.

“It’s pretty hard to come to that closure when you don’t see the body and don’t have the certainty of what really happened,” he said. “In this particular case, you probably have more uncertainty. Even if you believed the person is deceased at this point, it’s unclear about how the death experience occurred.”

Rescue efforts at the Crandall Canyon Mine were suspended indefinitely Friday, when officials said conditions were too dangerous to continue searching. Three rescuers working underground were killed in a second collapse Aug. 16, bringing an abrupt halt to tunnel-clearing efforts to reach the miners.

Teams had drilled seven holes deep into the mountain but found no signs of life. After a robotic camera became stuck in mud in one hole Friday, federal officials said they had run out of options and told families the search was ending.

There are no plans for a memorial at the mine yet. Colin King, a lawyer and spokesman for all six families, said funeral plans and memorial services wouldn’t be discussed with the families for at least a week.

“It’s too early and nobody’s had a chance to think about it up to now,” King said Saturday, one day after federal officials called off the search.

However, at the urging of Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, community members have organized a memorial service on Sept. 9 on the football field at a junior high school in Huntington, about 120 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

“I think (a) memorial may be a good way for the family and communities who have been touched by this tragedy to move toward closure and healing,” said Huntsman’s spokeswoman, Lisa Roskelley.