Victim struck by road grader

Contact:  Chuck Wolfe 502-564-5525

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (July 21, 2006) – A coal miner was killed late Thursday, July 20, in a machinery accident at a Cam Mining LLC surface mine in Pike County.

The victim was John May, 39, of Hardy in Pike County. The accident occurred at Cam Mining’s Slate Branch Mine at Freeburn.

The Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing (OMSL) is investigating the accident and, in keeping with procedure, closed the mine until the investigation is completed.

May was a road grader operator with 20 years of mining experience. The initial indication is that he was alongside his grader when it rolled backward and struck him.

The fatality was the second of the week and the fourth of 2006 at a Kentucky surface mine. Nine miners have died in accidents in underground mines.

“Thirteen fatal accidents are 13 too many,” said LaJuana S. Wilcher, secretary of the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet, parent agency of OMSL. “While the need for constant attention to safety is obvious, our mine safety analysts will continue to remind miners to make safety a personal priority.”