Skip to content
COAL MINE FATALITY - On Tuesday, March 28, 1995, a track-mounted front-end loader operator was fatally injured when he was engulfed by sliding dirt from an embankment. The front-end loader operator had positioned the machine 20 feet from and parallel to the embankment. The machine operator had exited the end-loader and was standing between the machine and the embankment when the unstable dirt broke loose.

On the day of the accident, approximately 50 truck loads of dirt had been removed from the embankment resulting in a 20-foot high cut. A hauler operator noticed material falling from the cut when he arrived at the site around 10:20 a.m., however, the end- loader operator could not be located. Help was summoned and after 90 minutes of manually removing dirt from between the end- loader and the embankment the victim was recovered.

This is the seventh coal mine fatality in 1995. As of March 28 last year, there had been 11 fatalities. This death is the fifth classified as POWERED HAULAGE in 1995.

Line drawing of the accident scene

For more information:
Fatal Alert Bulletin Icon MSHA's Fatal Accident Investigation Report [FTL95C07]