The first worker was found Thursday morning at the room and pillar mine near Nebo, about 10 hours after the incident at 10.40pm local time Wednesday evening.

 

Kentucky state governor Steve Beshear identified the victims as 28-year-old Michael Carter and 27-year-old Justin Travis, although federal officials had not released a statement confirming both deaths as of Thursday evening.

 

US Mine Safety and Health Administration spokesperson Amy Louviere confirmed earlier Thursday that federal officials had begun arriving at the mine at 11.15pm Wednesday, and rescue personnel first entered the mine just 15 minutes later.

 

Crews traveled to the area, 500 feet down and 24,000ft inby, where the men were trapped near a continuous miner. Efforts including roof stabilization and debris removal had to be halted at 4.50am due to adverse roof conditions, MSHA noted, and resumed after the roof was stabilized.

 

Various media have reported that rescuers made visual contact with one of the men, but could not reach him during the initial attempt. State and federal officials confirmed that efforts to contact the miners in the second rescue attempt at about 8am Thursday had been unsuccessful.

 

Louviere confirmed that a district manager, assistant district manager, family liaison, roof control supervisor and roof control specialist were all onsite at Dotiki, and state spokesperson Ricki Gardenhire also confirmed the state’s presence to ILN.

 

While an Alliance spokesperson did not respond to an ILN request for details, it did tell the Associated Press that it was in communication with the miners’ families.

 

“Our thoughts and prayers are with them during this difficult time," an official said.

 

While the mine was non-union, United Mine Workers International president Cecil Roberts also sent condolences to the families.

 

"Despite the non-union status of the mine, UMWA representatives went to the minesite and offered whatever assistance we can provide," he said.

 

The 367-employee Dotiki mine, operated by ARLP division Webster County Coal, runs two production shifts and one maintenance shift, with a total average output of 25,500 tons daily.

 

The Dotiki complex opened in 1966 and Alliance purchased the operation in 1971.

 

The deaths are the second and third in Kentucky coal in 2010; 29-year-old Travis Brock died earlier this year at Bledsoe Coal’s Abner Branch operation. That incident was also a roof fall.

 

The Dotiki roof collapse comes just three weeks after 29 miners were killed at the Upper Big Branch operation in Raleigh County, West Virginia.