Contractor dies on the job at southeast B.C. coal mine

A contractor was killed Monday working at a coal mine in theKootenays.

The contractor was operating a floating excavator on a tailings pond at the Fording River Mine north of Elkford, B.C.

Something went wrong and the excavator flipped over, plunging the worker into the pond.

"Somehow the operator got trapped and unfortunately that led to him passing away," said United Steelworkers union official Fred Riehl.

A dive team was sent in to retrieve the body.

The union and company did not say where the worker was from but an Alberta company was doing the contract work on the tailings pond.

About 1,000 unionized workers are at the mine, which is operated by Teck, and there are also contractors and management.

The last fatality there was 25 years ago.

With files from Bob Keating