Virginia has recorded its first mining death of 2009.
A veteran miner was killed early Thursday after coal and rock fell on him while he was working at mine in Wise County near Appalachia. Fifty-eight-year-old William Wayne Parrott of Big Stone Gap was working 12,000 feet into Big Laurel Mining Corp. mine No. 2 when the accident occurred.
Mike Abbott of the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy said the mine has been closed while his agency and U.S. mining officials investigate the accident.
Abbott said the last mine death in Virginia occurred in July 2008.
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Topics Virginia
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