A 55-year-old mine worker was struck and killed by falling rock at the Twilight Surface Mine on Jan. 29, according to federal investigators.
Stephen Fields of Chauncey was drilling a test hole in a coal seam when the rock came loose from a highwall due to freezing and thawing.
The falling rock ripped off the cab of the mobile drill Fields was using, according to Mine Safety and Health Administration data.
Fields’ death is the first of a coal miner in West Virginia this year and the first since September.
MSHA has issued 24 citations to the mine’s operator, Lexington Coal, for safety issues in the past year, including the rock fall that killed Fields.
Nationwide, there have been two coal mine fatalities so far this year. The first was on Jan. 10 at an underground mine in Somerset, Pennsylvania.
West Virginia recorded five coal mine fatalities last year, half the total nationwide. The state has more mine workers than any other and is the second-leading coal producer behind Wyoming.