“Dive and rescue teams successfully completed a pipe dive recovery effort that enabled them to safely access the cab of the submerged bulldozer in CONSOL Energy’s Nolans Run slurry impoundment at its Robinson Run preparation plant,” spokeswoman Lynn Seay wrote in an email update. “The diver was able to recover our employee from the cab of the bulldozer and bring him to the surface.”
According to The Associated Press, a preliminary accident report issued by MSHA said a massive failure of the upstream face of the saddle dam for the Nolans Run Slurry Impoundment happened at the Robinson Run mine. A section of the dam broke and slid into the impoundment. MSHA said four miners were working in the area where the failure happened and three of the miners and their equipment were swept into the impoundment. Two of the miners were standing near the face of the dam and began to run but were pulled into the water, said MSHA in the report. One of the miners swam to shore and the other was located and rescued. Koon, who was working near the face, was inside his equipment when it slid into the impoundment and had not been accounted for. Dive teams located the bulldozer and repositioned a pipe with built-in water jets that pushed away the muck so they could see it.
