Underground coal mine collapse injures 3 in Montana

BILLINGS, Mont. –

Three staff had been injured when a part of an underground coal mine with a historical past of security violations collapsed in southern Montana, authorities stated Wednesday.

The miners had been a couple of mile inside Signal Peak Energy’s Bull Mountain Mine when the world the place they had been extracting coal caved in for unknown causes, stated Justin Russell, director of Musselshell County Disaster and Emergency Services.

One of the miners suffered critical injures within the collapse and was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Billings. The others suffered average accidents.

It took the mine’s rescue staff about an hour to extract the miner most significantly damage, Russell stated. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration will examine.

A former govt on the mine south of Roundup in 2021 pleaded responsible to federal prison prices after admitting that he conspired with others to hide accidents to staff on no less than two events.

Also in 2021, Signal Peak Energy pleaded responsible to 4 counts of willful violation of well being and security requirements and agreed to pay US$1 million as a part of a plea settlement with federal authorities.

The mine employs about 210 folks, together with 130 who work underground, in accordance federal information.