Overview
- Rescuers entered the Rolling Thunder Mine before dawn Thursday after water levels dropped and located the body around 7:30 a.m. local time.
- Authorities identified the victim as Steve Lipscomb, 42, a foreman last seen helping his crew escape; all other miners were accounted for.
- The multi-day effort pumped up to about 6,000 gallons of water per minute, drilled access holes, deployed dive teams, and used long-distance wired phones for underground communications.
- State officials said the flooding began Nov. 8 when a crew struck an unknown pocket of water and an old mine wall was compromised roughly three-quarters of a mile inside the workings.
- This marks the third death at an Alpha Metallurgical Resources facility in West Virginia this year, and company and government investigators are now examining the cause.