1968 Mine Disaster

FILE - In this Nov. 21, 1968, file photo, smoke pours from the burning Llewellyn portal of the Mountaineer Coal Co., where 78 miners are trapped near Farmington, W.Va. It's been nearly half a century since then men perished in the Farmington No. 9 mine disaster in West Virginia, but to those who lost loved ones, the questions have never been answered. This week, families of the lost miners will ask a federal appeals court to reinstate a lawsuit they filed in 2014. (AP Photo/File)