Alliance’s Fatal Cave-In Followed 19 ‘Roof Falls’
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An Alliance Resource Partners LP coal mine in Hopkins County, Kentucky, had 19 instances of falling debris in the year before the roof buckled this week in an accident that killed two workers, according to data maintained by the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Thirteen of the incidents of “roof falls” at the Dotiki mine resulted in injuries, ranging from lacerations requiring stitches to a hairline fracture of vertebra, the MSHA records show. Federal regulators cited the mine 11 times this year for violations pertaining to roof support, according to the data.