Two men airlifted after coal mining incident in Perry County

PERRY COUNTY Ill. (KBSI) – Multiple agencies responded to a mining incident late last night on July 14, 2025.

According to responding agencies the incident occurred around 10:00 pm at the Knight Hawk Prairie Eagle Coal Mine and two men were taken out by air medical.

Emergency services that responded were Pinckneyville Ambulance Service, Perry County Sheriff’s Department, Washington County Ambulance Service, Arch Air Evac and another air agency. Two men were flown out, one to a hospital in Carbondale and one to a hospital in St. Louis.

Dan Wilkerson is the Assistant Coordinator for Pinckneyville Ambulance Service. He says it took crews about 45 minutes to get both workers into the helicopters and airlifted safely and according to Knight Hawk Cole a falling rock caused the collapse. 

According to a statement from the Knight Hawk Cole company the men suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Knight Hawk’s CEO Josh Carter issued a statement saying “Emergency personnel, both underground and on the surface, acted swiftly to get the men the medical attention they needed. We wish them both speedy recoveries,” “The employees of knight hawk coal spend many hours of safety training and how to respond to emergencies. Their dedication was on full display last night. We also thank the first responders from perry and Washington counties for quickly arriving on the scene to assist.”