One miner was killed and two injured in an accident at a Murray Energy Corp. coal mine in West Virginia, the company said Monday.
The accident took place late Sunday at the Marshall County Coal Co.’s Marshall County Mine near Cameron, West Virginia, Murray Energy, the biggest privately owned U.S. coal company, said in a statement.
A manager was killed. Two other workers were hurt but conscious and they were taken to hospitals for observation, it said.
WTRF-TV in Wheeling, West Virginia, quoted the state’s Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training as saying initial reports indicated that a roof and mine rib had fallen.
One of the hospitalized miners has been released, the station said, citing the statement. The investigation is ongoing.
The death was the first fatality this year in a West Virginia coal mine, the miners’ safety office said. There were five in 2014.
U.S. Department of Labor numbers show that there were 16 coal mining deaths nationwide last year. The Marshall County fatality was the third this year.