Sago Mine disaster was a coal mine explosion on January 2 , 2006 , at the Sago Mine in Sago , West Virginia , United States , near the Upshur County seat of Buckhannon . The blast and collapse trapped 13 miners for nearly two days ; only one survived . It was the worst mining disaster in the United States since the Jim Walter Resources Mine disaster in Alabama on September 23 , 2001 , and the worst disaster in West Virginia since the 1968 Farmington Mine disaster . It was exceeded four years later by the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster , also a coal mine explosion in West Virginia , which killed 29 miners in April 2010
Upper Big Branch Mine disaster
Upper Big Branch Mine disaster
Sago Mine disaster