West Virginia Operator Cited in Fatal Accident

West Virginia says it has issued seven citations to the operator of a Wyoming County mine in connection with the industry’s first fatality of 2011.

The Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training says it also cited two individuals in the death of 19-year-old apprentice miner John C. Lester Jr. Lester died in a conveyer belt accident at Baylor Mining’s Jims Branch No. 3-A mine Jan. 27.

The agency says in a report issued Tuesday that Lester was asphyxiated after falling onto a conveyer belt, suffering a serious head injury and being buried under coal.

A working telephone number of Baylor could not be immediately located. The report says the company agreed to change its belt configuration and give all underground workers communication devices, among other things.