According to a US Mine Safety and Health Administration preliminary report released to International Longwall News, Robert Carey, 45, a foreman for UAE Coalcorp Associates’ Harmony mine in eastern Pennsylvania, was sitting near the coal rib and next to the operator compartment of a Lee Norse 265 miner when a roof fall occurred.
It pinned the victim between the fall and the coal rib at the operation’s 003-0 section at 9.20am local time as the working section conducted retreat mining.
The agency indicated the size of the fall to be approximately 30ft wide, 20ft long and between 4in and 4ft in thickness.
Carey, who had nine years of experience, did not pass away until nearly two hours later at 11.06am, MSHA noted. He had been involved in retreat mining for just 11 weeks.
The Harmony mine is staffed by 45 employees, 30 of whom work underground. There were 24 underground at the time of the incident, MSHA said, but did not indicate whether the operation was evacuated following the roof fall.
Carey’s death was the 15th for US underground coal in 2008. MSHA has classified the fatality as Fall of Roof or Back.
