Two and a half months after an explosion trapped and killed 12 men inside the Sago Mine in Tallmansville, Virginia, their colleagues headed back underground today and restarted the coal mining operation once again.

Footprints inside the Sago Mine in West Virginia indicate the trapped miners tried to use a mechanised mine car to force their way out after the explosion, family members of the sole survivor said.

Twelve miners caught in an explosion in a West Virginia coal mine were miraculously found alive more than 41 hours after a blast that ultimately claimed the life of another miner, the governor said.