AVERY ISLAND, La – Rescue operations at an Avery Island salt mine have ended after crews located the body of the second missing miner last night.
The roof of the salt mine, owned by Cargill Protein and Animal Health, collapsed on December 14. Sixteen miners were able to escape, but two remained stranded.
By the evening of December 15, the bodies of both miners had been located, according to Cargill spokesman Daniel Sullivan.
“Our hearts are broken for our colleagues and their families,” Sullivan said. “To respect their privacy, we will not be sharing further details about the employees at this time. We continue to offer both families support and extend our deepest condolences for their loss. We care about our teammates and have professional grief counselors on site at our facility who will be available to our team as needed. The safety and well-being of our colleagues is our top priority. We are grieving with the community as we face this loss together.”
Sullivan released a statement hours after the collapse saying that the cave in had nothing to do with recent sanctions from the Mine Health and Safety Administration at the site. He said Cargill will continue to work with investigators from the agency to determine the cause of the deadly collapse.