GARRETT - State mine inspectors allege that an Eastern Kentucky coal company polluted a small stream in Floyd County last week with water contaminated by iron-laced sediments.

Motts Branch Coal Co. was cited for discharging substandard water into the Raccoon Branch of Saltlick Creek near the border of Floyd and Magoffin counties, said Mark York, spokesman for the Kentucky Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement.

York said state inspectors, investigating a tip from a citizen on Friday, discovered that water in the stream was "running red." He said a bulldozer had accidentally dug into an abandoned underground coal mine portal that had filled with water over the years.

The water surged into a nearby sediment pond, stirring up iron sediment, before overflowing into the stream. No fish were killed.