Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 16, 1991 TAG: 9102160475
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PENNINGTON GAP LENGTH: Medium
Coal miners working in three shifts retrieved the bodies of three miners Thursday, and continued digging through huge chunks of slate before recovering the last victim at 5:15 a.m. Friday, said Mike Abbott of the state Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy.
Killed in the accident were section foremen Harold Dowell, 50, and Wayne Mosely, 38, and roof bolters Danny Roberts, 30, and Floyd Varble, 27, Abbott said. All were from Pennington Gap.
The rock fall at the LJ's Coal Corp. mine near Puckett's Creek was Virginia's worst mining accident since 1983, when seven Clinchfield Coal Co. workers were killed by an underground explosion in Dickenson County.
Abbott said an investigation into the cave-in will begin next week.
Workers milled about in the snow outside the entrance to the mine, but none wanted to talk about the accident.
"These are not just men who worked for us, they were our friends," LJ's Vice President Paul Dean said. "We're all pretty tore up." The non-union company employs 22 workers and operated two shifts before the accident.
The four miners apparently were installing bolts to support the roof in a 3-foot-high shaft when a huge section of the coal and rock above them gave way about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday. Inspectors estimated the size of the fall was 10 feet high, 22 feet wide and 200 feet long.
"That's an unusually large fall," Abbott said. "It's difficult to say now what brought that about."
It may take inspectors for the state agency and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration two to four weeks to finish the investigation, he said.
Conversations were gloomy in Pennington Gap, a town of about 1,700.
"In a town this small, you find friends and relatives everywhere you go," Barbara Ashburn said. "I don't know these men, but I can feel the black cloud all over town."
Elk Knob Elementary School canceled a Valentine's dance.
"People here get close when something like this happens," said Kay Jessee, a teacher at the school.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB