Man released from hospital after falling into Hempfield mine shaft

A man who fell 25 feet into a mine shaft Wednesday was released from the hospital at 2 a.m. Thursday with only “bumps and bruises,” according to Crabtree fire Chief Bill Watkins.

Rescue crews from four Westmoreland County fire companies helped rescue the man shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday in Hempfield.

The man fell into the 2- to 3-foot opening in the backyard of a home on Tipple Row Road in Hempfield’s Luxor neighborhood. Less than 40 minutes after the incident was called in to 911, rescuers had pulled the man out.

“Crews set ground pads, began air monitoring, set up a confined space blower to force fresh air down in the hole and set up an A-frame with a rope-hauling system to lower two rescuers down,” Crabtree Volunteer Fire Department officials wrote in a post on their Facebook page Wednesday night.

As of Thursday morning, the entire backyard was blocked off with emergency tape.

The state Department of Environmental Protection will review the incident and determine whether it should notify the U.S. Bureau of Mines, Watkins said.

Luxor was established by the Jamison Coal and Coke Co. to provide housing for employees of its nearby coal mining complex, which began operations in the 1890s, according to the National Park Service’s inventory of industrial and engineering sites in Westmoreland County.

Watkins, who called the incident a “freak” accident, said shafts can open after years of land erosion. The chief believes residents in all former coal towns “should be concerned” about mine shafts.

“You don’t know where these openings are,” he said.