RENO, Nev., March 5 (UPI) -- A man who fell into an abandoned Nevada mine shaft has been declared dead and his body will not be recovered, an official said Saturday.
U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesman Doran Sanchez said the 28-year-old victim's body could not be retrieved safely because of the instability of the mine shaft and so it would be sealed, CNN reported. The victim's name had not been released.
The man fell down the 19th century mine shaft at the Murphy's Mine complex about 60 miles south of Winnemucca Wednesday, suffering severe head and body trauma. A camera lowered into the shaft showed him still breathing early Friday but by the afternoon the coroner for Pershing County, Nev., determined he had died, the U.S. news network said.
Sanchez said the victim had been a contract employee for a drilling company and had grown up in the area.
