EAST BANK, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- What was supposed to be a final resting place has been hit with a major disturbance from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

The DEP has set up its heavy equipment in the old Coalburg Cemetery in East Bank. Workers are installing an underground pipe to fix a water leak and say where they are parked is the only place they can access the problem.

The leak is coming from an abandoned mine. The Coalburg mine had a major blowout in March when millions of gallons of water rushed onto Route 61 and the surrounding area.

The DEP says it tried to set up away from headstones, but grave markers are inside the caution tape. And Lois Armstrong who cares for the cemetery, says there are likely graves under the machinery because many of them are unmarked.

"The headstones are very few and far between, most of them were just stones that were put up because people didn't have money for headstones," Armstrong said. "They just put a stone in the ground. There were stones there, there were graves there."

"If you disturb graves that have been there for 100 years what are you going to have when you are done, I mean the parts are going to be strung all over the place a big piece of equipment naturally tears up everything," Armstrong says.

The DEP says it will repair any damage that it creates. The work should be complete this week.