Crystal Springs, Miss – Green Brothers Gravel Company has located the body of one of its workers trapped inside equipment at the incident site according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
Officials are not releasing the name of the recovered employee at this time. Ray Coleman with MEMA said this in out of respect for the families.
The worker was located inside the cab of an excavator. The cab was full of sand, sludge, and slurry.
“Because the cab was so full,” said Coleman. “The workers chose to hand dig the miner out of the cab. They did not want to compromise the body. Out of respect for the family they wanted to do it right. It took five hours.”
“Task Force Two”, along with other crews are continuing their efforts to recover the second employee at the site.
Green Brothers and MSHA have been in charge of the recovery operation since it occurred close to 11:30 a.m. June 3.
Copiah County EMA, MEMA and other state resources are providing support to the operation as requested.