HELVETIA — A Mill Creek man was killed Wednesday morning in a coal mine accident, officials said.

Timothy Keith Collins, 53, a coal truck driver, died early Wednesday morning in Helvetia, according to officials.

Gov. Jim Justice announced Collins’ death during his coronavirus news conference on Wednesday.

“We’ve got to salute these great, great men and women that absolutely power this nation and produce the greatest coal on the planet for making steel and powering the nation in so many ways. And they’ve been doing it forever,” he said.

Randolph County Sheriff Rob Elbon shared information about the accident with The Inter-Mountain Wednesday.

“We are investigating a fatality this morning at Morgan Camp Mine,” Elbon said. “There was an accident involving a dump truck and the driver.

“The incident is still under investigation,” the sheriff added. “The Mine Safety and Health Administration has been called in as well because it was at the mine.

“Because it happened in the county and there was a vehicle involved and a fatality, we went ahead and did our part of it, and MSHA will investigate the rest of it.”

Collins was an independent coal truck driver, Justice said at a news conference.

According to an incident report, the accident was reported shortly after 5 a.m. at Carter-Roag Coal’s Morgan Camp Mine. Collins had pulled his loaded coal truck off to the side of a haul road located between the mines and a cleaning plant. Collins was walking around the side when a truck ran over him.

On Wednesday, Justice also announced the death of Jeffrey Allen Hudnall, 60, who died in an accident Aug. 4 at Marfork Coal in the Raleigh County community of Packsville.

A caller to 911 reported that Hudnall was working on top of a loader, lost his balance and fell to the ground, knocking him unconscious, according to an incident report.

The state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training “will have a clearer and accurate understanding of what happened in each incident through its pending investigations,” said Lawrence Messina, a spokesperson for the state Department of Homeland Security.

The deaths brings the number of fatal incidents at West Virginia coal mines to five this year. There have been three other such deaths nationally, in Pennsylvania, Utah and Wyoming.

Justice, who also is a coal operator, said that the mining industry is dangerous and that “safety must continue to be stressed.”