BOONE COUNTY, W.Va. — A man died Wednesday at an inactive Boone County mine.
According to the Danville Volunteer Fire Department, 73-year-old James Simpkins died after a silo collapsed at the former Hobet mine site. Authorities said a recycling crew was working to tear down old silos when one fell on an excavator.
Multiple emergency agencies from Kanawha and Boone counties responded to the scene, as did the West Virginia State Police and state mine inspectors.
It is not clear what caused the silo to collapse.