CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia mine safety officials say a 27-year-old worker is dead after an accident at a Greenbrier County coal mine owned by Virginia-based Alpha Natural Resources.
Leslie Fitzwater of the state Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training says it happened early Friday morning at the Pocahontas Mine A White Buck Portal near Rupert.
The miner has not been identified yet, but investigators say he was caught between a scoop and a continuous mining machine.
He was pronounced dead shortly afterward at a local hospital.
State investigators are on scene.
Fitzwater says this is the state's sixth mining fatality this year.
