GRAFTON, W.Va. — Federal mine safety investigators have released a preliminary report in the Sept. 28 death of a miner at the Arch Coal Leer Mining Complex in Taylor County.
According to the report, Colton Walls, 34, of Bruceton Mills suffered a serious head injury when a hook and strap assembly attached to two longwall shields failed. Walls died on Oct. 4.
Investigators have classified the death as “machinery” related.
Walls had worked as a miner for 14 years and was married with three children. He was the fifth mining fatality in the state in 2024 and the second at the Leer Mining Complex.
Joe Crandall, 57, of Fairmont, suffered a fatal head injury in the same mine in August while using an air lifting bag to rerail a longwall electrical power car.
Crandall had 11 years of mining experience.
Story by Mike Nolting, WAJR