The incident occurred Monday afternoon at the Tracy Lynne room and pillar mine in Apollo, Armstrong County, about 40 miles from Pittsburgh, Rosebud vice president Jim Barker told ILN.
“We had a piece of draw rock a couple feet wide by 5-6 feet long and about 2-3 inches thick fall out between existing roof support … and hit a couple guys who were hanging canvas under the area,” he said.
“One was treated for a bruise on his knee and released hours later [and] the other is still in the hospital for some monitoring and will hopefully be released today or tomorrow [Tuesday or Wednesday].”
Barker said some initial scanner communications led local outlets to report a roof fall with trapped miners, but confirmed that that the reality was more minor.
“While it is an accident, it is certainly nothing the news originally thought it was,” he said.
The two were about six miles in and 400 feet underground at the time of the fall. Barker told the Associated Press that it took about 30 minutes to bring the workers to the surface.
US Mine Safety and Health Administration spokeswoman Amy Louviere confirmed to ILN that a 103(j) order to suspend mining operations following the incident was still in place Tuesday morning, and would remain in effect until investigators could evaluate the mine.
The Tracy Lynne operation began operations in March 1997 and extracts from the Lower Kittanning seam.
Another miner, 26-year-old Boyd Beer, was killed June 10 2005 at the mine while he was installing six-foot resin grouted roof bolts into the mine roof of a previously supported intersection.
In an investigation report, MSHA said the mine roof in the intersection was originally supported with 36-inch resin grouted roof bolts and a visual roof defect (horseback) extended up and into the immediate roof strata for a distance of approximately five feet in depth.
“The accident occurred as a result of management's failure to address the obvious defective roof condition which would have prompted additional safety precautions to be taken in the No. 27 room intersection of the 3rd East Butt section,” MSHA concluded.
It cited Rosebud with three 104(d) citations and orders as a result of the incident.
