Three perish in Indiana mine accident

How many more? [1]

PRINCETON, Ind. — Authorities want answers to what caused three men to fall from a construction bucket inside a coal mine air shaft and plunge 500 feet to their deaths.

The trip in the open-top bucket Friday was routine, but the bucket was somehow upset as it was descending, said George Zugel, director of safety and health for Frontier-Kemper Constructors Inc. The company is building the 550-foot vertical ventilation shaft at the Gibson County Coal mine in southwestern Indiana.

Last year, the mine administration cited the company for 353 safety violations, 127 of which were deemed “serious or significant,” said Rodney Brown, a spokesman for the agency. The mine has faced 292 citations this year, 84 of which were considered serious and significant.

But don't expect the mine company to take any responsibility. It's like a disease [2] with these guys...

The mine, owned by Tulsa, Okla.-based Alliance Resource Partners, is about 30 miles north of Evansville. The air shaft was being built as part of an expansion at the coal mine, which began production in July 2000.

Debbie King, executive assistant for investor relations at Alliance, said the accident was not connected to the mine.

“It is a construction accident. We can’t report on it because it’s not our accident,” she said.