A coal miner is dead after an accident early Friday morning at an Alex Energy, Inc. mine site.
Alpha officials say the man who died after being hit by a scoop at the Pocahontas Mine in Green Valley was Steven O’Dell, 27. O’Dell worked as an electrician.
The accident happened before 1:30 a.m. Friday.
“We are all saddened by the loss of a talented colleague and friend,” Alex Energy President Craig Boggs said. “Our sympathies go out to the O’Dell family. The prayers and thoughts of all of us are with Steven’s family at this difficult time.”
Alex Energy is a subsidiary of Alpha Natural Resources.
Investigators with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and state Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training are now working to determine exactly what happened.
O’Dell’s death is the sixth in a West Virginia coal mine this year.