Kentucky coal plant collapses, trapping workers under concrete and steel with one dead

An 11-story coal plant in eastern Kentucky collapsed, trapping two workers under “multiple floors of concrete and steel,” authorities said, prompting a state of emergency from Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY).

One of the workers was killed, and it “doesn’t look good” for the second one, officials said. “Please pray for the family and loved ones of this individual,” Beshear posted on social media.

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The workers were removing machinery from the inoperative coal plant around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, preparing it for demolition, when the structure collapsed, authorities said. Martin County Judge/Executive Lon Lafferty told reporters Wednesday morning they had not given up hope on the second worker.

Beshear declared the state of emergency “to mobilize state resources” in the rescue operation, but he warned Kentuckians, “the scene is bad and we should be prepared for tough news out of Martin County.”

Video from the scene shows the building caved in and ruined, highlighting the dire circumstances of the missing worker. Kentucky Division of Emergency Management Director Jeremy Slinker said the collapse is among the worst disasters he’s ever seen.

Lafferty likened the scene to time he spent around the rubble in New York City after 9/11, saying, “It’s horrific. …those images that you see there is kind of what you see here, a very large structure that has collapsed on itself.”

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“A tremendous amount of weight, a tremendous amount of force, a tremendous pile rubble [that’s] there now, concrete and steel,” he added, per NBC News.

Martin County encompasses rural terrain on the border of West Virginia. The coal plant hadn’t been in use for several years before it collapsed.