Copter crash claims coal magnate
Coal tycoon Chris Cline, who worked his way out of West Virginia’s underground mines to amass a fortune and become a major Republican donor, has died in a helicopter crash outside a string of islands he owned in the Bahamas.
Local authorities did not immediately identify the victims. But Brian Glasser, an attorney for Cline, confirmed that the billionaire entrepreneur once called the “King of Coal” was among the dead. Cline would have turned 61 on Friday.
A representative for Glasser’s firm said that Cline’s daughter Kameron Cline, 22, also had died.
Jillian Clark, a recent Louisiana State University graduate, was killed as well, according to NOLA.COM. Clark and Cline were members of the university’s Phi Mu sorority.
Brittney Searson, 21, another friend from Chris Cline, who attended Marshall University in Huntington, W.VA., is shown there in 2014 at the dedication of the football program’s new indoor practice facility bearing his name. Louisiana State, was also among the victims, The Palm Beach Post reported.
The helicopter had taken off from Big Grand Cay around 2 a.m. Thursday on its way to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said. It was not reported missing to police until just before 3 p.m., after it did not arrive in Florida. The aircraft was found overturned in 16 feet of water off Grand Cay, along with seven bodies — four female and three male, the police statement said.
Cline acquired Big Grand Cay, a 280-acre archipelago, a few years ago, according to a 2017 Forbes profile.
Cline began working in the coal industry in West Virginia in 1980 at age 22, according to a biography on his firm’s website. He rapidly rose through the industry ranks, founding an energy development group, the Cline Group, in 1990.
In 2006, he founded Foresight Energy to develop and operate mines in Illinois, according to the firm, though he later sold his controlling interest to another coal company.
Cline’s personal wealth was valued at $1.8 billion, according to Forbes.
Cline was a major supporter of President Donald Trump and many other Republicans. He donated $1 million to the president’s 2017 inauguration celebration, according to the Open Secrets site run by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign donations.
In 2015, Cline donated $1 million to a super PAC supporting the presidential campaign of former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, according to Bloomberg News. He later donated to a super PAC that supported the campaign of Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.
Cline also donated generously to Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, which he attended.