Saturday marks the 15th anniversary of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster in Raleigh County.
On April 5, 2010, 29 coal miners were killed at the Upper Big Branch mine in the deadliest mine explosion in decades.
A remembrance ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Raleigh County Courthouse in Beckley.
The explosion was caused by a buildup of coal dust and methane.
A long federal investigation showed that Massey Energy, which operated the mine, put production ahead of safety.
Don Blankenship, then Massey’s CEO, stood trial and was convicted of conspiracy to violate federal mine safety and health laws. Blankenship served a year in prison.
The miners who were killed ranged in age from 20 to 61. A memorial to them was built near the mine site.
While the number of mine fatalities has declined to historical lows, two miners have been killed in West Virginia this year, including one in February in Raleigh County.
Upper Big Branch was the deadliest mine explosion since 1970, when a blast ripped through one in Hyden, Kentucky, killing 38.
Two years before that, an explosion at a mine in Farmington, West Virginia, killed 78.