The body of one of the two men missing in a landslide at Green Brothers Gravel Co.’s Harmony Mine & Mill in Crystal Springs, Miss., was recovered Thursday morning, ABC News reports. The body was found around 1:30 a.m. inside a piece of equipment.
To respect the privacy of the family, authorities have not yet released the name of the man who has been recovered.
“Rescue crews are continuing their efforts to find the second employee at the site,” says Ray Colman, a spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, in a news release.
On June 3, the two workers were buried by gravel, water and sand when a retaining wall to a pond gave out and caused a cave-in. Lee Smithson, Mississippi’s state emergency director, identified the two workers as Emmitt Shorter and James “Dee” Hemphill. Officials from the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) reported that the men were operating heavy equipment and were buried 10 to 12 ft. beneath the materials.
Smithson says efforts to find the other missing worker will now be doubled, reports WAPT News.
According to ABC News, MSHA is supervising about 25 people working on recovery efforts.
“As far as Green Brothers’ violation history, at this point we haven’t really focused on the history of that,” says William O’Dell, MSHA assistant district manager. “We’re solely focused on our recovery operations.”
Online records show that MSHA has cited Green Brothers Gravel Co.’s Harmony Mine & Mill for 26 “significant and substantial” violations since 1993, ABC News reports.
