Investigation begins after miner dies at North Yorkshire colliery

Man who died in tunnel at Kellingley colliery expected to be named by pit operator UK Coal as specialists examine scene of tragedy Police and mine safety specialists have begun a detailed inquiry at the North Yorkshire colliery where one miner died and another was injured in a roof fall on Tuesday. The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, whose Pontefract and Castleford constituency borders the Kellingley colliery, which is known as Big K and one of the most productive in Europe, has interrupted her Labour party conference schedule to visit the mine. The miner who died in a tunnel 800 metres underground is expected to be named by UK Coal, which operates the pit, on Wednesday. He is understood to be in his 40s and from North Yorkshire. His colleague, who was freed from waist-high debris by a mine rescue team, is also said to be in his 40s, and is from West Yorkshire. He is recovering after treatment in hospital for minor leg injuries. Cooper said: “All the people I’ve talked to this morning – the management and the unions and the workforce – everybody’s just really shocked by what’s happened, but also thinking about the families involved. All of our thoughts must be with them this morning. “I think there’s a sense of shock still at the moment, and obviously the investigation’s really important – that’s started already. It’s really important we get detailed and full answers. “But I think the thing that’s uppermost in people’s minds is just feeling for the family, thinking about the miner who has died, and I think all our thoughts are with them.” Nigel Adams, the Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty, said the events had been a “massive tragedy” for the community. He added: “There was a visit underground by the health and safety executive and the managing director of UK Coal last night, and I’m told that there’s no obvious cause as yet for why the roof fell in.” Adams, whose uncle worked at Kellingley for 20 years, said: “Very sadly, this is the third death we’ve had here at Kellingley in four years and, coming on the back of the Welsh tragedy, it clearly resonates with people how dangerous an industry mining is. “I understand the gentleman who lost his life is one of my constituents and so it’s clearly a shocking thing. It’s worth pointing out that colleagues of the two miners who were trapped performed heroics in trying to rescue them.” Union officials said the injured miner was out of hospital and “doing OK”, but that there was wider concern about coal mining safety following the loss of four men in a flooded pit in south Wales less than a fortnight ago. Ken Capstick, the former vice-president of the Yorkshire branch of the National Union of Mineworkers, said events in recent years had been “very, very worrying indeed in terms of safety”. “We’ve prided ourselves on being the safest mining industry in the world, and so it certainly needs some serious examination,” he said. Local people including sisters Leanne and Abby Crowther, whose father, Martin, was a member of the rescue team, went to the site. Leanne said: “It’s been horrible. We’ve just been sat at home beside ourselves. We’ve had no phone calls or anything.” The incident came on the eve of the funeral of the first of the four victims of the tragedy at the Gleision colliery in Cilybebyll, Pontardawe, which was the UK’s worst mining disaster for 30 years. UK Coal received summonses from the Health and Safety Executive in 2009 relating to four deaths in separate incidents at its collieries. Last year, the company evacuated 218 workers after methane gas seeped into the North Yorkshire area of Kellingley’s warren of tunnels and ignited. Only one of the pit’s two shafts is used by miners. The other is part of a transport system to Eggborough power station and other power stations along the M62. The pit also produces some household coal. A miner died in a rock fall at the colliery in 2008, and another was killed following an equipment failure the following year. UK Coal Mining Energy industry Martin Wainwright Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk

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