Federal workplace safety officials are investigating the death of a worker in an underground southern Illinois coal mine.
Perry County Coroner Paul Searby says 28-year-old Timothy Chamness of Royalton died Wednesday night in the Prairie Eagle mine in Cutler. U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration spokeswoman Amy Louviere says Chamness was using a remote control to operate a toothy machine that carves coal out of the seam. She says Chamness became pinned between that equipment and the coal rib. An autopsy was planned.
The mine's operator, Knight Hawk Coal, released a statement extending its deepest sympathies to Chamness' family. The company declined additional comment, citing the ongoing investigation. The Prairie Eagle mine began underground mining in July 2006. Along with it's surface mine it produces nearly 2-million tons of coal annually. Knight Hawk coal employs about 90-miners at the Prairie Eagle underground mine.
