Walter Energy spokesman Dennis Hall confirmed to ILN that the victim was Christopher Brown, a five-year mining veteran who was 36 years old.

“[He] had climbed up onto an elevated belt catwalk to examine/observe the belt wiper [and] had proceeded to the end of the elevated catwalk at the belt discharge,” US Mine Safety and Health Administration spokeswoman Amy Louviere added.

“The guard/gate at the end of the catwalk failed and the victim fell along the chute to the lower belt.”

She said two other miners were on the catwalk and two others were on the mine level and one of the group engaged the belt stops immediately after witnessing the accident.

“The victim had become lodged between the bottom of the chute and the skirt of the lower belt,” Louviere said.

The incident occurred at the Tuscaloosa County mine at about 6.15pm local time.

Hall said the employees at both the No 7 mine west and No 7 mine east were sent home after the incident and the entire mine staff observed a 24-hour mourning period thereafter.

“Walter Energy would like to convey its deep condolences to Mr Brown’s family,” he said.

Internal, state and federal investigations into the incident have commenced, along with probes by the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Department and the United Mine Workers of America.

The JWR No 7 longwall mine produced about 4.8 million tons of bituminous coal last year, according to federal records.

The last fatality at the operation was in 2009.

Jim Walter Resources, headquartered in nearby Brookwood, Alabama, estimated it had 203.4Mt of recoverable reserves at the end of last year.