Four days after Utah mine collapse Three miners killed in Indiana

According to the local Princeton Daily Clarion, the men were employed by Frontier-Kemper Constructors, which was digging a new portal for the mine. The Clarion reported that people doing such construction work have to be licensed miners, but it is not clear whether the deceased had received such training.

Construction company officials said they did not know how the men fell out of the bucket. Delton Gooch, a worker for Frontier-Kemper, explained that the “basket” goes all the way down to the work deck, which moves up and down to different levels within the shaft. When the accident occurred, he said, the work deck was suspended only 10 feet from the bottom of the 500-foot shaft.

He said the basket is “as big as an SUV,” and said it could comfortably hold 6-10 men.

Gooch, who leads one of the construction teams, said when he heard about the accident he immediately started phoning his family to let them know he was OK. The possibility of an accident is something the workers think of regularly, Gooch told the local newspaper.