On January 2, 2006, twelve West Virginian miners found themselves trapped in the Sago Mine in West Virginia. Eleven of the twelve men perished of carbon monoxide poisoning. The twelfth man, Randal McCloy, remains in a coma at the West Virginia University Hospitals. There is much dispute among officials as to whether or not the mining operation was safe enough to be working on. There is also dispute as to whether or not the miners had even been able to make an attempt at abandoning the mines, officials await McCloy's story. There had been another team working in the mine that day of which six miners emerged, a team Ray McKinney, administrator for coal mine safety and health, said contained only six men, but of which four of the six originally contained thirteen.


On December 6, 1907, in Monogah, West Virginia, the worst mining disaster in American History occured. 362 men and boys, out of a total of 380 miners on shift that day, were killed in an underground explosion. The accident caused an increased awareness of the troubles facing mine operators. Lookie Here.