Falsified Maps May Have Led to Pennsylvania Mining Accident
July 30, 2002
Officials investigating last week's mining accident in Quecreek, Pennsylvania are turning their attention to underground maps that may have been falsified years ago in an attempt to cover up improper mining techniques. On Wednesday night, nine miners unexpectedly drilled into an abandoned mine, known as the Saxman mine, that was thought to be several hundred feet from where they were working. Water that had accumulated in the deserted shaft since its close fifty years earlier spilled into the Quecreek mine trapping the nine miners.
Joseph Jashienski, a retired miner who worked the Saxman mine as an employee of the now-defunct Saxman Coal and Coke Co., claims on the day before it was abandoned the superintendent carved out a large area in the shape of a baseball diamond, a procedure that Jashienski says would have raised questions among state regulators had it been detailed on a map. Investigators will also be reviewing mining procedures implemented by the Black Wolf Coal Co., which owns the Quecreek mine. The company has reportedly been cited 26 times for violations of Federal mine safety regulations.
-- Article Courtesy of InjuryBoard.com
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