State Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training spokesperson Leslie Fitzwater told ILN Monday afternoon that the victim, whose name has not yet been released, was working at Mingo Logan Coal’s Mountaineer II mine in Logan County before 7am local time when the incident occurred.
Fitzwater confirmed the presence of state inspectors onsite at the mine, and US Mine Safety and Health Administration spokesperson Amy Louviere added in an ILN interview that federal officials had also arrived to examine the scene.
“[The] miner was struck by a roof fall while installing cribs in the longwall gob area,” Louviere said, adding that Mountaineer II was under a 103k order Monday to halt production pending an investigation.
The bituminous coal operation, which sold 5.1 million tons of coal last year, is owned by Arch Coal.
Arch spokesperson Kim Link confirmed the incident to ILN but said in the hours after the event that the company was still collecting details.
According to federal data, Mountaineer II commenced production in September 2005. The mine’s longwall, according to the company’s statistics, began operations in October 2007.
The death is the 14th in the US and the second in the month of August alone.
On August 8, a worker at American Energy’s Century longwall operation in Ohio, controlled by Murray Energy, died after being struck in the chest by the top of a base lift jack cylinder of a roof support.
