November 4, 2024 - The fatality report from the Mine Safety and Health Administration released Friday said the coal miner from Bruceton Mills suffered fatal injuries when a hook and strap assembly he was working near broke.

Colton Walls, 34, suffered a head injury in the Arch Coal Leer Mining Complex Sept. 28 when the equipment attached to two longwall shields failed. He died of the injuries Oct. 4.

Officials have classified as “machinery” related.

Walls had worked as aminer for 14 years and was married with three children. He is the fifth mining fatality in the state and the second at the Leer Mining Complex in Taylor County this year.

In August, Joe Crandall, 57, of Fairmont, suffered a fatal head injury in the same mine while using an air lifting bag to rerail a longwall electrical power car. Crandall had 11 years of mining experience.