Coal Miner Killed in Raleigh County, W. Va. Accident
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A miner working to support the roof at a Raleigh County underground coal mine was killed early Monday when part of the mine’s wall collapsed, regulators said Monday.
Crew leader Joseph M. Cassell, 33, of Glen Daniel, was working at Rhino Eastern’s Eagle No. 1 near Bolt when he was crushed by a 100-inch-high, 32-foot-long piece of the wall, said Amy Louviere, a spokeswoman for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Cassell was preparing to set roof support timbers and was shoveling along the mine wall about 1 a.m. Monday when he was struck, said Leslie Fitzwater, a spokeswoman for the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training.
The death was West Virginia’s third mining fatality, and the nation’s seventh, this year.
Lexington, Ky.-based Rhino Resource Partners, the majority owner of the Raleigh County mine, said it has idled the operating during the investigation. Rhino said it is cooperating with state and federal investigators to determine the cause of the accident.
Source: The Associated Press
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