WLKY
Two workers died after being trapped inside a collapsed building at the Excel/Pontiki coal preparation plant in Martin County, Kentucky.
CNN
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Two workers died after an 11-story building in Kentucky collapsed earlier this week, trapping them under concrete and steel and triggering a rescue operation that lasted several days.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announcement By Friday afternoon, the two workers trapped at a Martin County coal preparation plant had died.
Two men were working inside the Martin Mine preparation plant when it collapsed around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to to a press release from Kentucky Emergency Management. They were left trapped under “several floors of concrete and steel,” the agency said.
The governor said one of the men, Billy Ray Daniels, died Wednesday. Intensive rescue efforts continued throughout the week in hopes of saving the other worker, Alvin Nees.
“I am sad to report that the second worker trapped inside the collapsed coal preparation plant in Martin County has died,” said Governor Beshear. said the, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “This is a heartbreaking situation and I hope everyone will join Britainy and me in praying for the families of these two workers and for this entire community.”
At a news conference Friday afternoon, Martin County Judge-Executive Dr. Lon Lafferty said the bodies of Nees and Daniels had been found.
“This is not the outcome we were hoping for,” Lafferty said. “We knew from the beginning that this was a very dark and very difficult situation.”
Lafferty said Nees’ body was found but crews were still working to recover Daniels’ body.
The cause of the collapse is still under investigation.
Martin County is located along the state line near West Virginia, about 150 miles southeast of Lexington.