An employee was fatally hurt in a mine collapse in Fayette County, Pa., on Friday afternoon, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection stated in a statement.The department
stated it thought that a part of the mine’s roof had actually fallen onto equipment the miner was dealing with. The agency declined to determine the miner, however stated that the person’s household and next of kin had been notified.No one else was captured under the collapse, Lauren Fraley, a spokesperson for the department, stated on Saturday.On Friday afternoon, the Department of Environmental Protection received a report of a roofing system collapse and a caught miner at Laurel Aggregates’ Lake Lynn Quarry in Springhill Municipality, on the border of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, according to the declaration. A rescue group from the department’s Bureau of Mine Safety responded to the accident.Laurel Aggregates teams and the rescue group worked for hours to get rid of loose rock to reach the devices
and”move it under a solid, supported area of the roof to ultimately extricate the person, “according to the statement. Throughout the rescue, the miner was not responsive, and crews were unable to assess the person’s condition.At 11:03 p.m., the person was pulled out from the mine by the Smithfield Volunteer
Fire Department and the mine rescue group. The miner was pronounced dead at the scene.The collapse will be investigated by the department and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, which explains the material mined at the quarry as”crushed damaged limestone.”” D.E.P. will release a preliminary action report with general findings and a last report with its complete decision of the cause and possible corrective steps required of the mine operator to guarantee that this type of scenario does not take place once again,”the firm said.According to the Department of Environmental Management, although mining in Pennsylvania peaked in the early 20th century, there are still more than 40 active underground coal mines in the state. There are at least 5,000 deserted underground mines across the state.During coal mining’s peak in the United States, thousands of miners passed away in deadly mishaps every year, according to data from the Mine Security and Health Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Labor. Coal mining mishaps have decreased exponentially, with only five coal mining
deaths in 2020. The last time a mine’s roof collapsed in Pennsylvania was last Might, when a mine operator “went beyond the optimum cut depth”in the mine, triggering the roofing system to fall. The operator passed away in the mishap.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/08/us/mine-collapse-pennsylvania-fayette-county.html