Rachel Dove-Baldwin
Staff Writer
22 MINE ROAD — A piece of heavy machinery owned by Coal-Mac came off of a flat-bed transport truck turning onto 22 Mine Road from U.S. 119 and ended up on its side, where it remained for two days until a plan was implemented to place it right side up.
According to information provided by Mingo County Emergency Services Director Jerrod Fletcher, the accident occurred at approximately 10 a.m. on Friday and was cleaned up Sunday afternoon around 4 p.m. The Caterpillar 993K front-end loader, weighing almost 295,000 lbs., suffered cosmetic damage after coming off the side of the flat bed as the truck turned onto 22 Mine Road. The driver for J.P. Technical Services that was transporting the machinery to the mine site relayed that it felt like an earthquake had occurred when the in loader slammed onto the pavement and said it sounded like a sonic boom. No one was injured in the mishap.
Four large dozers and two cranes had to be brought to the location to help put the 993K upright. One lane of U.S. 119 was blocked for a period of time while the pieces of large machinery attempted the operation. Cables had to be hooked to the in loader from various directions to pull it from its side and place it back on its wheels.
Fletcher asked to say a special thank you to Chris Sykes and Jeremy Blankenship from Coal-Mac, along with everyone else at the scene, for all the assistance man power and equipment they supplied.
“It took some planning, quite a few pieces of heavy equipment and teamwork to get the job done, but we were successful,” commented Fletcher.
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