Emergency crews in West Virginia were preparing to deploy an underwater drone on Sunday in an attempt to locate a miner who became trapped following a flood inside a coal mine. The incident occurred at the Rolling Thunder mine, situated near Drennen, approximately 50 miles east of Charleston, as reported by local authorities.

The mining team unwittingly breached an unforeseen water pocket on Saturday, about three-quarters of a mile into the mine, according to Nicholas County Commissioner Garrett Cole, who shared the details on Facebook. Fortunately, all other miners were safely accounted for following the incident, which was reported to the county’s emergency management office around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. The extent of the flooding within the mine remains uncertain.

West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey issued a statement explaining that the flooding resulted from the breach of an old mine wall. He confirmed that several state agencies are actively involved in the rescue operations, which include efforts to pump water from the inundated section of the mine.

Rolling Thunder is one of the 11 underground mines operated in West Virginia by Alpha Metallurgical Resources Inc., a Tennessee-based company. The firm also manages four surface mines in West Virginia and operates additional mines, both underground and surface, in Virginia.

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

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

The same report says that the Rolling Thunder coal seam runs along and below the drainage of TwentyMile Creek, but said there were “no significant hydrologic concerns” about digging for more coal in the extensively mined property.