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Miami Copper Company
Miami Copper Mine
Fall of Persons Accident

Miami, Gila County, Arizona
June 11, 1955
No. Killed - 4

USBM Final Investigation Report  (2.9 Mb)  PDF Format

See also: Miami Copper Mine Cave-in, Apr. 17, 1913

From the Google News Archives:  External Link
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Fall in Shaft Kills Two at Miami Mine
Phoenix Arizona Republic
June 12, 1955

Miami (AP) -- Two Miami Copper Company workers were killed yesterday when they fell into an elevator shaft with a carload of concrete and crashed into a scaffolding 75 feet below.

The victims were identified as Sylvester R. Huggins and E. J. Karnes.

Carl North, one of two men working on the scaffolding, was in critical condition with multiple injuries at the Miami-Inspiration Hospital.  The other man on the scaffolding, Mike White, was injured less seriously.  He suffered contusions.

R. W. Hughes, general manager of Miami Copper, said Huggins and Karnes were moving concrete along a horizontal drift with a motor and car and dumping it into a funnel leading into the elevator shaft.  The concrete was being poured into the walls of the shaft.

On the scaffolding, White and North were supervising distribution of the concrete.

Hughes said it was not known how the car happened to slip off the edge of the drift and plunge into the shaft.

The shaft is in the southwest part of the mine area.  It is used in movement of men and equipment.




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