Tuesday, November 07, 2006

45th Coal Miner of '06 Killed

Coal miner deaths in this country have now reached 45. Four coal miners -- one third of those killed at Sago -- have died on the job over the past three week.

Saturday’s death in Kentucky occurred at the McCoy Elkhorn Coal Corp.’s Mine 23 near Ashcamp in Pike County. Tony Swiney, a 44-year-old section foreman at the underground mines, was killed when he was hit by a large electrical cable plug, according to a preliminary MSHA report.

***

Sunday’s death occurred at Peabody Energy subsidiary Peabody Western Coal’s Kayenta Mine in northeastern Arizona, according to MSHA records.


Few details were available. The accident was listed as an electrocution, said MSHA spokesman Dirk Fillpot.

This marks the fourth coal mine death in the past three weeks. A Kentucky miner was killed October 30. A Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania coal miner, Dale Reightler was killed on October 23 in Pennsylvania. And a 49-year-old West Virginia miner was killed on October 20.

More stories on 2006 mine disasters here.