Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 26, 1994 TAG: 9407270028
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KIMBALLTON LENGTH: Medium
Barry Blaine Snider and Jeffrey Morgan didn't report to lunch around noon on Monday, prompting their co-workers at the Eastern Ridge Lime Company to check on them.
The workers found that a large rock had fallen in the tunnel of the mine at the limestone company on Virginia 684 near Pearisburg.
Snider, 37, of Blacksburg, was presumed dead, but the search for his body could not begin until officials from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration arrived to investigate and help develop a recovery plan. The state mining safety agency also will be investigating.
Morgan, 32, of Princeton, W.Va., was flown to Roanoke Memorial Hospital on LifeGuard-10. He was listed in satisfactory condition with a broken pelvis. Morgan was found in the motorized drill's cab, which was crushed by the rock.
"It just fell," Morgan said from his hospital bed. "There was nothing to indicate it was going to fall. It just came down."
Morgan, who has worked at this mine site for 14 years, said he knew Snider was near him when the collapse occurred. He said when he didn't hear anything from Snider, he just assumed the worst.
Steve Davis, captain of the Giles Rescue Squad, said his crew and the Giles Ambulance Service responded to the call at the mine. It took emergency workers about an hour to reach Morgan.
Davis said rescue squad members would return to help retrieve Snider's body once they received clearance from federal mine officials.
"We have people that are trained to do cave rescue and people who are now or previously employed at APG," Davis said. APG Lime Corp. is near the Eastern Ridge plant.
Kenneth Schweigert, vice president of operations for the company, said Morgan was drilling holes to prepare for blasting about one-half mile below the surface when the rock fell.
Snider, the mine foreman, apparently was watching Morgan when the collapse occurred, Schweigert said.
Schweigert said proper safety precautions had been taken, including the peeling away of loose rock. Workers also tap the ceilings and walls to check for loose rock.
"Normally, hard rock mines are very safe," he said.
Mike Abbott, public relations coordinator for the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, said the agency inspects the plant every 180 days.
Officials found five violations unrelated to underground mining during a June 17 inspection. The violations involved surface or plant activities.
In 1993, the plant mined 366,552 tons of limestone. The plant, formerly called Virginia Lime Co., is an affiliate of Mississippi Lime Co. and is owned by the North American Lime Co. The company employs more than 100 people in its office, plant and quarry. The mine has been in operation since 1945.
Mine workers were sent home Monday after the accident was discovered, but it was unclear Monday night whether mining operations would resume today.
Before Monday, the mine had claimed only one life - during a 1969 rock fall, Schweigert said.
The most recent mine-related fatalities in the area occurred late last summer. Timothy Wayne Francis, 41, of Peterstown, W.Va., and Brian Keith Ratcliffe, 28, of Pearisburg, died Sept. 9 when a 150-ton slab of rock fell on them as they worked about 1,200 feet underground at the APG Lime Corp. Kimballton Plant, also on Virginia 684 on Big Stony Creek.
The pair was using a jumbo drill when the rock - described as "about the size of a school bus" - fell and crushed them. The mine was closed for a few weeks after the accident.
State investigators said a vein of calcite had weakened the roof of the APG mine and caused it to shear from its natural bedding.
The fatalities were the first ever recorded at the APG mine.
Staff writers Kathy Loan, Rick Lindquist and Matt Chittum contributed information for this story.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB