Falling Boom Section Kills Wyoming Coal Mine Worker

GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) — Falling equipment has killed a man at a Wyoming coal mine. The accident happened Wednesday at the Black Thunder mine in the Powder River Basin.

Campbell County sheriff's officials say a section of a boom on a 200-ton crane fell and hit the shoulder and neck of 31-year-old Jeff A. Wendland.

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The Gillette News Record reports emergency responders pronounced Wendland dead at the scene. A statement from the mine's parent company, Arch Natural Resources, says Wendland was a millwright at the mine and had been at Black Thunder for 13 years.

He leaves behind a wife and four children.