The victim, identified by Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing spokesman Dick Brown as welder Jerry Watts, was working at T&T Energy’s Begley No. 1 mine in Short Creek at about 11.15am Saturday when the accident occurred.

“Preliminary information from OMSL indicates Watts was doing welding work on a liner of a [Caterpillar D10] dozer blade when a jack slipped, allowing the liner to strike Watts in the head,” Brown said.

US Mine Safety and Health Administration spokeswoman Amy Louviere said attempts were made to resuscitate the victim but no pulse was detected and he was subsequently pronounced dead by Leslie county coroner Greg Walker.

Watts, a contractor employee representing Watts Welding and Fabricating, had two years mining experience.

Both OMSL and MSHA confirm that investigators were onsite at the mine Monday.

It has been classified by MSHA as a machinery accident.

According to federal data, T&T Energy’s bituminous complex produced 244,675 tons of coal in 2012 in about 91,000 man hours.

No operator or contractor injuries or fatalities were reported for that year.

Of the 19 coal deaths reported in the US in 2012, four were recorded in Kentucky.