Morgantown, W.Va. ? Two miners whose jobs included watching for safety hazards inside the Sago Mine before the deadly explosion last January committed suicide in the past month.

Neither man had been blamed for the disaster that killed 12 of their comrades, and neither one’s family has definitively linked the suicides to the accident. But those who knew the men say there is little doubt the tragedy haunted them.

“I’m not sure anybody ever gets over it,” said Vickie Boni, the ex-wife of one of them. “You live with it every day.”

Both men were working at the Sago Mine on the day of the blast and had been questioned by investigators along with dozens of other witnesses. One former co-worker said at least one of the men felt investigators were treating him as if he had done something wrong.

John Nelson Boni, whose job that day was to maintain water pumps, shot himself Saturday at his home in Volga, State Police said.

William Lee “Flea” Chisolm, the 47-year-old dispatcher responsible for monitoring carbon monoxide alarms and communicating with crews underground that morning, shot himself at his Belington home Aug. 29, authorities said Tuesday.

State and federal mine-safety agencies have not determined the cause of the Jan. 2 blast. But a spokeswomen for both agencies said that both men had been thoroughly interviewed and there had been no plans to talk with them again.

Mine owner International Coal Group has said it believes a lightning bolt ignited methane that had accumulated naturally in a sealed section of the mine.

It was not immediately clear whether Boni left a suicide note.

Chisolm did not, the sheriff said. Relatives told investigators Chisolm had been depressed about personal matters and drinking heavily.