DAVIS, W.Va. — The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration released its preliminary findings Thursday into a fatal accident that happened earlier this month at Mettiki’s Mountain View Mine in Tucker County.
Daniel Lambka, 20, of Kitzmiller, Md., was killed on the evening shift January 16. Lambka had two years of mining experience and had been at the Mountain View Mine for four months.
MSHA’s report revealed Lambka was struck by a feeder machine after he had hooked a chain between the feeder and tail piece. He had been standing between the rib and the feeder when a securing post dislodged. He was pinned between the rib and frame of the feeder when the tailpiece shifted.
Lambka is the first mining fatality of 2014 in West Virginia and in the United States.