Roof collapses in Kentucky coal mine, killing 1

updated 10:30 p.m. ET Jan. 10, 2006

PIKEVILLE, Ky. - Part of the roof collapsed Tuesday at a coal mine in eastern Kentucky, killing one miner, a state official said.

The rock fall occurred about 900 feet inside the Maverick Mining Co. LLC mine in Pikeville, near the Virginia line, said Chuck Wolfe, spokesman for the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing.

Wolfe said that Cornelius Yates, 44, was the only miner harmed. Yates was operating a roof bolting machine at the time, according to the state Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet. The fallen roof section measured approximately 20 feet wide, 4½ feet thick and 10 feet long.

Suzy Bohnert, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, said federal officials were on the scene.

Wolfe said a nine-person rescue crew was sent to the mine when the accident was reported shortly after 3 p.m. EST.

A person who answered the phone at Maverick Mining in Pikeville declined comment.

Last week, 12 miners died after an explosion in a coal mine in West Virginia.

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