MINE FATALITY – On November 8, 2025, a section foreman died after a mine was inundated with water from an adjacent abandoned mine. The foreman was found on November 13, 2025.
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Best Practices
- Determine the location of abandoned mine workings using signed maps and local sources. Abandoned mines are a major flood hazard.
- Provide sufficient barrier pillars. Evaluate interburden thickness and compare mine surveys from a common baseline.
- Use directional, long-hole drilling to ensure adequate barriers around mining areas.
- If necessary, submit permits for “operations under water.”
Additional Information
This is the 28th fatality reported in 2025, and the first classified as “Inundation”.
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Original article published by MSHA