The Sago Mine Disaster

This letter released by the Toler family on Thursday Jan. 5, 2006 in Flatwoods, W. Va was written by Martin Toler Jr., who died with 11 other miners in the Sago mine. The note was given to Martin's brother, Tom Toler, by the coroner. It reads 'Tell all I see them on the other side JR I love you It wasn't bad just went to sleep' (AP Photo / Courtesy of the Toler Family)

Sago Mine Hearing Opens With Questions

In the end, the families say the hearings are about those 12 men who "died doing what they were trained to do," said Pam Campbell, whose brother-in-law Marty Bennett died in the mine.

"They tried to escape, and when they couldn't escape, they went back where they knew they had air, and they barricaded themselves the way they were taught," she said. "And as they shared rescuers amongst them, they beat on roof bolts and nobody listened. They waited for blasts from the surface, and those blasts never came."

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Dying Miner 'Logged Final Hours'
BBC, Sunday, 8 January 2006, 22:30 GMT

A group of coal miners trapped below ground after an explosion in West Virginia lived for at least 10 hours, a note found on one body has revealed.