Cecil Roberts, the international president of the United Mine Workers of America, and Carlo Tarley, who lost his brother Dewey in the 1968 Farmington No. 9 mine disaster, carry a wreath to lay at the foot of the memorial Sunday during a service remembering those who died in the disaster.
MANNINGTON, W.Va. — On Sunday, Ralph Starkey sat about a mile away from where he and eight other coal miners were rescued in 1968 after a series of explosions went through the Farmington No. 9 mine.
“It was right up there where we came out,” he said while pointing behind him. “We came up in a bucket.”
The explosions took the lives of 78 coal miners on Nov. 20, 1968.
Starkey, who had been working in the mine for several years, said the survivors of the disaster were lucky to get out.
“To get out of the place we were in, you’re just glad to get out,” he said.
Starkey remembered talking with other miners while waiting to get rescued that day in 1968. He said they tried to keep a light atmosphere by laughing and telling jokes to each other.
Starkey was one of several people who attended the annual memorial service at the Farmington No. 9 Mine Memorial, located off Flat Run Road just north of Mannington. This week marks the 47th anniversary of the mine disaster.
Starkey said he has been coming to each memorial service since it was started. He was the sole survivor in attendance Sunday…