Bodies recovered in landslide accident

Rescuers June 11 recovered the body of a second man who disappeared in a landslide at a gravel pit in southern Mississippi earlier this month.

The second body was found about 9:50 p.m. June 10 and removed June 11, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Ray Coleman said. The man’s body was taken to the Copiah County coroner’s office for an autopsy.

The worker was found trapped in the slurry near equipment he had been operating when he and the other man were buried in 10 feet to 12 feet of mud, slush and sluice June 3.

The body of the first worker was recovered June 9 morning inside a piece of equipment.

MEMA director Lee Smithson has identified the two missing men in a Facebook message as Emmitt Shorter and James “Dee” Hemphill and offered condolences to their families.