Blasts that killed 26 men in a Kentucky coal mine still echo 50 years later

By: Bill Bishop, Earl Dotter

Outlets: Kentucky Lantern

Published: March 5, 2026

Words: 2,197

Last Updated: 5 days, 15 hours ago

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At 11:15 on the morning of March 9, 1976, Virgil Coots, a foreman at the Scotia coal mine in Letcher County, called to the surface. “You’ve cut off all my air,” Coots complained. A few minutes later, he made another call. “I’m not getting any air,” Coots said. “I’m coming down to see what the problem is.”

Coots never made it. Methane gas accumulated in a dead-end section of the mine and, at 11:30 a.m., …

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