Roof fall kills one,
injures another miner
at mine near St. Paul
State and federal mine investigators Wednesday officially opened their joint investigation into a large roof fall that killed one miner and injured another at Coastal Coal Corp.'s VICC No. 3 mine near St. Paul.
At press time, few details were available as to what happened Tuesday evening when the mine roof fell, trapped and killed George William Ingle, 56, of Castlewood. Ingle's body was recovered at 3:20 a.m. by the emergency response teams of the company and state and federal mine agencies. The accident was reported at 6:35 p.m. Ingle was operating a continuous miner machine in a new section of the mine when the roof fell at an intersection where he was developing a new mining cut in the Jawbone seam, according to Mike Abbott, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy.
The continuous miner helper, 47-year-old Joe Frank Harrison of Lebanon, was injured and flown to Bristol Regional Medical Center. As of Wednesday, Abbott said, hospital officials described Harrison's injuries as mild abrasions to his head and a leg, and soreness in his shoulders and back. The hospital planned to keep him for observation.

Coalfield April 15, 1999  Vol 88 N 29 p.1