Six injured in Greene County mine accident

Six workers were injured in an accident in a Greene County coal mine Monday night.

The incident happened about 11 p.m. inside the Harvey Mine, which sits along Patterson Creek Road in Morris — about 8 miles northwest of Waynesburg.

Officials with Core Natural Resources, which operates the coal mine, said in a statement that the workers were injured in “an underground accident involving a pressurized water hose.”

It wasn’t immediately clear what exactly happened with the hose, but officials said six workers with cap lamps were “brought out of the mine” and taken to hospitals for treatment. Five have since been released, according to the statement, and one remained hospitalized Tuesday for further evaluation.

“We are conducting an internal review of last night’s event to determine the exact cause of the accident while working with all appropriate agencies,” officials said.

The state’s Mine Safety Bureau, which falls under the Department of Environment Protection, is investigating.

DEP spokesman Neil Shader said mine safety personnel responded to the scene Monday night and remained on scene Tuesday “monitoring the situation and investigating the cause of the incident.

“The wellbeing of the mine workers is top of mind,” he said in an email. “We’re heartened to learn the majority of the miners have already been discharged from the hospital and we hope for their continued swift and full recovery.”
The mine employs roughly 325 workers, most of whom work underground, according to data from the Mine Safety and Health Administration. It’s one of three active underground mines in the county.