A Union County coal miner has died in an underground mine accident.
Lester Daugherty Jr., 48, of Sturgis, was killed early Saturday morning while performing maintenance at 16,000-foot-deep River View mine in Waverly, the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet said in a news release.
The mine was last inspected on October 18 by the Kentucky Division of Mine Safety (KDMS), officials said. KDMS investigators arrived at the mine on Saturday.
Daugherty was a mechanic with 16 years of experience.
The mine is owned by Alliance Resource Partners.
“My deepest sympathies go out to the Daugherty family,” Kentucky Energy and Environment Secretary Rebecca Goodman said. “We are investigating this accident and will to do everything that we can to understand how this happened and prevent such future loss of life among miners.”
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
