WV WV - Clay Epperly, 30, Keystone, 29 Aug 2016

Epperly and three friends - 38-year-old Steve Cordle, 35-year-old Brandon Collins and 22-year-old Justin Bolen - entered the mine Monday night. Epperly became separated from the group, and the friends went back into the mine looking for him about 2 a.m. Tuesday.

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Family members of Clay Epperly, 30, of Keystone, told the Daily Telegraph Thursday that the search is over, and the man’s body was not found. The family members said the mine is now going to be sealed.

Rescue crews searching for Epperly encountered too many dangerous situations underground to continue the search, the family members said.

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MCDOWELL COUNTY, WV (WVVA) - State Police in McDowell County have charged five people in connection with copper thefts that occurred at the Keystone No. 1 mine.

The five suspects are each charged with grand larceny, conspiracy, transferring stolen property, and trespassing. See a list of those arrested below:

• Dustin Bolen, 21, of Kimball, WV
• Justin Bolen, 22, of Kimball, WV
• Brandon Collins, 35, of Kimball, WV
• Steve Cordle, 38, of Kimball, WV
• Jimmy Church, Jr., of Kimball WV

All five men were arraigned in front of Magistrate Richard VanDyke and are currently being held in the McDowell County Holding Facility on $50,000 bond each.

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Three of the men arrested were reportedly with Clay Epperly, 30, when he entered the Keystone No. 1 mine this past summer never to return. Rescue efforts were hindered by poor oxygen levels and Epperly was eventually pronounced dead.

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WELCH — Nobody expected them to win, but a McDowell County mine rescue team beat all expectations when competing teams demonstrated their skills at the National Mine Rescue Competition.

The Southern Pocahontas Mine Rescue Team located in Welch finished first during the National Mine Rescue Contest’s first day, Trainer Donnie Coleman said. Team members had to meet prearranged challenges set up Sept. 19 at the National Mine Safety Academy in Beaver.

Every two years, teams are invited to the National Mine Rescue Competition, Coleman said.

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Members of the Southern Pocahontas team participated in the January 2015 rescue of a lost man at the Keystone No. 1 mine in McDowell County. They also among the rescuers who searched in late August 2016 for another man who was lost in the same mine. Despite a major effort, that man, 30-year-old Clay Epperly, could not be found. The mine was later sealed.

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Mother Says Final Goodbye Before Abandoned Mine Is Sealed Where Her Son Went Missing

An abandoned coal mine in McDowell County where a man went missing was being sealed on Tuesday September 6, 2016. The situation began last Tuesday at the Keystone Number 1 Mine in Keystone, M…

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Mother Says Final Goodbye Before Abandoned Mine Is Sealed Where Her Son Went Missing

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