Perry County KYGenWeb

Another Kentucky coal mining fatality
26 June 2010

In the span of barely a week, a second Kentucky coal miner has been killed in an underground mining operation. The death of Bobby Smith in a James River Coal Company mine near Hazard on June 24 brings to 39 the number of coal miners killed so far this year.

Bobby Smith, a 29-year-old Vicco, Kentucky, resident, was operating a continuous mining machine in the Leeco 68 underground coal mine near the town of Jeff in Perry County. At around 1:15 p.m., according to a preliminary report from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Smith was caught between the machine and the rib of the wall and crushed. Smith was transported to the surface, then taken to the hospital in Hazard, where he was pronounced dead.