Multiple Citations Issued in Ky. Coal Mining Death

By The Associated Press

WHITESBURG, Ky. – Kentucky mine safety officials have issued multiple citations in the death of an eastern Kentucky coal truck driver who was killed at the Blue Ridge surface mine in Letcher County.

Authorities say Roy D. Sturgill, 29, died Jan. 8 after his truck backed over a dumping point and continued to go down the slope. Sturgill was employed by Bates Contracting in Whitesburg.

An investigation by the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing released Wednesday said the crash could have been prevented if the operator, Cumberland River Coal, had followed state law.

Investigators said the safety barrier near the edge of the dump site was constructed with damp soil and ranged in height from 17 to 46 inches. The barrier was supposed to be sturdy and tall enough to allow a rock truck’s wheels to back against it, but not roll over it.

St. Louis-based Arch Coal Inc., parent company of Cumberland River Coal, declined comment to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Sturgill’s widow, Susie, said she and her two children, 9-year- old Kylar, and 7-year-old Brooke, have been devastated by the death. They have been staying with family in Whitesburg since Sturgill’s death.

“It’s been hard, especially with the kids,” she said. “We talk about him every day and we go to the cemetery every day. I think that has helped.”

Susie Sturgill is worried about how her children will cope with losing their father, who took a job in the mines in hopes of getting health insurance for his family.

“He did it for us,” she said. “That’s why he wanted the job so bad.”

Roy Sturgill was the first coal miner in the nation to be killed this year. Since his death, five other miners have lost their lives in accidents in Alabama, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Texas, according to MSHA records.

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