A 2007 report by the department 's Office of Inspector General ( OIG ) found that mine safety regulators did not conduct federally required inspections at more than one in seven of the country 's 731 underground coal mines in 2006 , and that the number of worker deaths in mining accidents more than doubled to 47 in that year . The Mine Safety and Health Administration ( MSHA ) " missed 147 inspections at 107 mines employing a total of 7,500 workers . " A separate audit of 21 inspection reports determined that documents were missing , misdated , or mislabeled and that " MSHA officials misstated inspection statistics in reports and on the agency 's Web site . " Mining disasters in 2006 and 2007 included West Virginia 's Sago Mine explosion , which killed 12 in January 2006 ; West Virginia 's Alma Mine fire , which killed 2 in January 2006 ; the Darby Mine No. 1 explosion in Kentucky , where five miners died in May 2006 ; and the Crandall Canyon Mine collapse in Utah , which killed six workers and three rescuers in August 2007
Sago Mine explosion
Sago Mine disaster
Elaine Chao