Dying miner 'logged final hours'

West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin has been comforting families

A group of coal miners trapped below ground after an explosion in West Virginia lived for at least 10 hours, a note found on one body has revealed.

Shuttle car operator Jim Bennett, 61, logged events as the group waited for rescuers to reach them.

Just one of 13 men emerged alive from the mine, despite earlier reports that all had been saved. Randal McCloy Jr remains critically ill in hospital.

The funerals of six of the miners took place on Sunday.

The ceremonies were private, and police kept journalists away from the two funeral homes where they were taking place.

More than 100 people sang hymns at the local baptist church, which became the gathering place for loved ones while the men were trapped underground.

'Losing air'

Jim Bennett's note is the most detailed of a series of notes written by the miners, who were discovered behind a plastic curtain they had erected in a doomed attempt to block out the deadly carbon monoxide.

Each time he documented, you could tell it was getting worse Ann Meredith Jim Bennett's daughter

They were found more than 42 hours after a blast in the Sago Mine on Monday left the 13 miners trapped some two miles (3km) inside the mine.

One miner died almost immediately.

"Each time he documented, you could tell it was getting worse," said Jim Bennett's daughter Ann Meredith.

His first entry was timed and dated at 1140, with the final note, scrawled in words that trailed off the page, at 1625, almost 10 hours after the explosion.

IN GRAPHICS How events unfolded US media exposed

"Later on down the note he said that it was getting dark. It was getting smoky. They were losing air," Ms Meredith told the Associated Press.

Doctors in Pittsburgh have said that survivor Randal McCloy, 26, has shown signs of dramatic improvement in his brain and organ functions.

Mr McCloy was transferred to Pittsburgh on Thursday for oxygen treatment to try to counter the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Nevertheless, he remains in a medically-induced coma, and doctors suspect he has suffered severe and irreversible brain damage.