The St. Louis County Sheriff's Department has identified the victim of Friday's mine accident as Donavon Ray Dunblazier of rural Gilbert. The 49-year-old man, a mobile crane operator, was killed at Mittal Steel USA's Minorca Mine near Virginia about noon Friday when the crane tipped over while he was operating it.
Details of the accident are under investigation by the Mine Safety and Health Administration and St. Louis County Mine Inspector's Office.
It's the third fatality at an Iron Range taconite plant since October, when an electrical coordinator was killed in an electrical explosion at United Taconite in Forbes. In April, a United Taconite drill operator died when the drill he was operating tipped over in the facility's mine at Eveleth.
