A flood inside a coal mine in West Virginia has trapped a coal miner inside

DRENNEN, W.Va. (AP) — Emergency responders hope to use an underwater drone to reach a miner trapped in the flooded depths of a West Virginia coal mine on Sunday, officials said.

A mining crew on Saturday hit an unknown pocket of water about three-quarters of a mile into the Rolling Thunder mine near Drennen, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of the state capital of Charleston, Nicholas County Commissioner Garrett Cole said in a Facebook post.

After the accident was reported to the district emergency management at around 13.30 on Saturday, the situation of all other miners in the team was learned. It was unclear how extensive the flooding was inside.

West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey said in a statement that the mine was flooded after an old mine wall was “compromised” and multiple state agencies were involved in the response, including pumping water from the flooded section.

Rolling Thunder, Tennessee-based Alpha Metallurgical Resources Inc. It is one of 11 underground mines operated by West Virginia. The company also operates four surface mines in the state and three underground and one surface mine in Virginia.

A report prepared for Alpha in February by engineering consulting firm Marshall Miller & Associates said the area had been “extensively surveyed” by previous mine owners and obtained “a significant amount of historical data” that Alpha examined in assessing its coal-producing potential.

The same report says the Rolling Thunder coal seam is advancing along and below the drainage of TwentyMile Creek, but says there is “no significant hydrological concern” about digging more coal on heavily mined land.