Days after a mining accident in Knox County left one worker dead and two others injured, federal officials and the mine operator Nyrstar are mostly mum on what happened and on Nyrstar s safety record before the collapse.
Tuesday s accident at Nyrstar s Immel Mine in the Mascot-Strawberry Plains area marks the third death at one of the company s East Tennessee mines this year.
Federal data show there have been 18 mining fatalities across the country in 2021, meaning one-sixth of this year s mining deaths have occurred at Nyrstar s mines in Knox and Jefferson counties.
Nyrstar issued a statement Friday but didn t address a list of questions Knox News sent to its human resources manager including one about the previous deaths at its mines and another about three citations it received in the week leading up to the collapse.