Body of trapped worker found inside flooded West Virginia coal mine after he endured 6 days in complete darkness
Missing miner’s body found 6 days after he got trapped in flooded mine
- The body of a missing coal miner has been found six days after he got trapped in a flooded mine in southern West Virginia.
- Steven Lipscomb was found early Thursday by a two-man crew who finally managed to enter the Rolling Thunder Mine, Governor Patrick Morrisey said.
- A desperate search was underway after the mine flooded Saturday when an old wall was compromised, leading to miners hitting an unexpected pocket of water approximately three-quarters of a mile underground.
- Lipscomb was stuck about 3,600 feet below ground in complete darkness and rescuers struggled to reach him despite pumping water at a rate of 6,000 gallons per minute, drilling holes, and deploying dive teams to search for potential air pockets.
- This incident marks the third fatality at an Alpha facility in West Virginia this year, with the United Mine Workers union sending experts to the non-union mine.