A Colorado coal mine worker was killed after being trapped under a two-ton trough.
The 32-year-old surface mechanic’s body was discovered by an operator on Aug. 2 at the Deserado Mine after he didn’t report at the end of his shift. He was working alone.
The accident occurred in the mine’s processing plant, where coal is cleaned before being shipped. The mine is operated by Blue Mountain Energy Co. and produces bituminous coal from a longwall mine.
“The accident occurred above ground inside the coal processing building, as the worker was attempting to remove a portion of a steel beam,” the mine’s human resources manager, Danny Clark, said in a press release.
The Daily Sentinel reports that the Deserado Mine has received 166 violations from mine inspectors this year. According to the Mine Safety & Health Administration, those accidents involved workers sustaining a broken hand, lacerations that required stitches and amputation of the tip of a finger.
According to reports this is the 11th death in the U.S. at a coal mine for 2017, however this is the first fatality at the Deserado Mine since October 1996.