Brandon Kilmer
Posted on 08/17/2007 4:08:50 PM PDT by RDTF
HUNTINGTON -- Underground efforts to reach six miners trapped in central Utah's Crandall Canyon mine since Aug. 6 have been suspended indefinitely following a Thursday night cave-in that killed three rescue workers.
Richard Stickler, assistant secretary of Labor over the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said efforts deep inside the coal mine would remain halted unless some way is found to safely resume them.
"This was a tragic accident [that] was the result of seismic activity, a mountain 'bump,'" he said at a late-morning briefing near the mine. "We had put in the strongest ground-support system . . . that would provide the maximum Crandall Canyon Mine Collapse safety for the rescue workers available."
The dead were identified as miners Brandon Kimber and Dale R. Black, and MSHA employee Gary Jensen. Kimber is a father of three from Price; Black is 48 and from Huntington. Jensen worked out of the administration's Price office.
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(Excerpt) Read more at sltrib.com ...
Prayers Up...
So sad. Some of the rescuers quit a few days ago because they said it was simply too dangerous. Think what you will of them, but they were right.
I’ve been trying to find the pic that NBC just showed of Brandon Kimber with his 3 kids. Beautiful photo. He was young and very handsome.
Brandon Kilmer
Gary Jensen
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1655272
Friends and Family Speak About Men Killed in Last Night’s Cave-in
August 17th, 2007 @ 5:04pm
Twenty-nine-year-old Brandon Kimber’s family approached KSL this afternoon because they wanted the public to know what an incredible man Brandon was.
Brandon Kimber Brandon was from Utah. He’s the father of three children, twin 4-year-old boys and a 5-year-old daughter. He was recently promoted to shift boss. Family members say he felt obligated to help with the rescue effort when the original collapse happened, August 6. They say he was a hero who always put others before himself.
-snip-
Family members say Brandon put himself in harm’s way to protect another miner.
Kristin said, “We were told that when it was starting to cave in and the walls were coming down and stuff, he had jumped on top of the other guy, and laid on top of him, and all the rubble fell on him instead of the other man.”
The family of that other miner saved by Brandon, told his family that story from his hospital bed.
This is very sad. Prayers for these wonderful men and their families.
TANKS RD,,,I hope those kids will know what a Hero their Dad was,,,
From what I caught on FOX the mine won’t ever be reopened.
Very sad...
So true.
Indeed, this is a tragedy. But when did the Federal Government get jurisdiction over this rescue effort? Does that hold for all rescue efforts everywhere?
MSHA has jurisdiction explicitly in federal law over coal mining sites, and the law says that it has jurisdiction over other sites where “materials are mined that affect or enter commerce.”
It is a pretty broad scope, actually. They also have jurisdiction over many milling sites, if the milling isn’t happening on the mine site.
When any “lost time” accident occurs on a mine site, the mine operator must make a timely call to MSHA to report the accident. MSHA will then come out and investigate (rather quickly in cave-ins and fatalities) and proceed from there. In the case of rescue operations, MSHA holds the certification control over rescue teams, and the call on what situations are too dangerous to effect a rescue, and that’s how they end up controlling rescues: who can rescue and under what conditions.
John 15:13:
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (KJV)
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