West Virginia Coal Miner Found Dead in Flooded Mine

The body of a coal miner was found inside a mine in southern West Virginia, four days after the stretch of mine was flooded when crews hit an unexpected pocket of water, officials said.

It’s the third death this year at a West Virginia facility overseen by Alpha Metallurgical Resources, NBC News and the Associated Press reported. An elevator undergoing tests struck a mine worker in August at an Alpha subsidiary; a section of coal fell on a contractor at an underground operation in February, the news outlets noted.

In Drennan, West Virginia this week, a mining crew unleashed the flood when it broke through a wall on Saturday, Nov. 8, about three-quarters of a mile into the Rolling Thunder mine, which lies about 50 miles east of Charleston, Nicholas County Commissioner Garrett Cole said in a Facebook post, the Associated Press reported.

All the other miners on the team were accounted for after the accident was reported to the county emergency management department. Rescuers had hoped to use an underwater drone to reach the trapped miner, but Steven Lipscomb, 42, was found dead early Thursday. He was last seen attempting to ensure his crew made it out safely.

“Steve joined our company in 2006 and was a dedicated employee, respected leader and friend to many,” Alpha CEO Andy Eidson, said in a news release. “His actions to ensure the safety of his crew members were heroic. On behalf of the entire organization, we extend our prayers and deepest sympathies to his wife, two children and all who knew and cared for him.”

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in a statement that the mine flooded after an old mine wall “was compromised,” and that multiple state agencies are involved in the response, which includes pumping water from the flooded section.

Rolling Thunder is one of 11 underground mines operated in West Virginia by Tennessee-based Alpha Metallurgical Resources. The company also operates four surface mines in the state, as well as three underground and one surface mine in Virginia.

A report prepared in February for Alpha by an engineering consulting firm, Marshall Miller & Associates, said the area had been “extensively explored” by previous mine owners, generating “a significant amount of historical data” that Alpha examined in assessing its potential for producing coal.

The same report says that the Rolling Thunder coal seam runs along and below the drainage of Twenty Mile Creek but said there were “no significant hydrologic concerns” about digging for more coal in the extensively mined property.

Alpha said in a statement that the company is working closely with federal and state authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the accident and its underlying causes.

Photo: The Black Eagle coal mine, a deep mine in Raleigh County, operated by Marfork Coal Company, a subsidiary of Alpha Metallurgical Resources. Photo taken May 18, 2021. (Chris Dorst/ Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)