Man Trapped After Collapse Of Florida Mine Believed To Be Dead

December 24th, 2010 - 9:18 pm ICT by GD  

By Gina Gomez
limeDec 24, (THAINDIAN NEWS) A 35-year-old miner is presumed to be dead after he got trapped in lime rock pit in Florida after the mine collapsed around him. On Thursday, rescuers tried their best to recover the body of the trapped miner after repeated search operation failed to yield any results and there were no signs of his survival. According Florida officials, the unfortunate incident took place on Thursday when supervising contractor Kenneth James Stephens Jr. fell into the lime pit after a controlled explosion was carried out at the mine.

While revealing details of the accident, Sumter County Fire Chief William Gulbrandsen told journalists that the 35-year-old man was supervising the site of the blast when all of a sudden, the earth beneath his feet collapsed when he was standing at a distance of 30 feet from the blast site. After the police were intimated about the accident and they arrived at the spot, a crane was lowered into the pit but the rescuers failed to find the supervisor. However, now the efforts have moved from rescuing the victim to recovering his body. It has reported that the recovery officials now intend to pull out the water from the lime pit after the area has been sealed off in a bid to find Kenneth James Stephens Jr.’s body.

Kenneth James Stephens Jr. who worked for the Austin Powder Company, was a resident of Beverly Hills, Florida. Over the past eleven year long association with the company, the 35-year-old supervisor is known to have worked in as many as 1,000 blasts until Thursday’s tragedy.

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