Memorial held for US mine victims

Victims' families were given a statue of a coalminer during the service

A memorial service has been held in the US for 12 miners who died following a pit blast in the state of West Virginia earlier this month.

More than 1,800 people, including the victims' widows, attended the service at Wesleyan College chapel.

Just one of 13 men emerged alive from the Sago Mine, despite earlier reports that 12 had been saved.

The survivor, Randal McCloy Jr, 26, remains in a coma in hospital, two weeks after the accident.

'A better place'

Mr McCloy's wife, Anna, was first from among the miners' families to light 13 candles in their honour.

Family members wore white ribbons bearing the words "Sago 2006"

During the two-hour service, a montage of photographs of the 12 men was shown as family members and friends paid tributes.

The miners were remembered as men who loved their families, God and a "good old laugh".

Mike Rose, whose father-in-law Jerry Groves was killed, said his family took comfort in knowing that he was "in a better place, being held in the arms of a loving saviour".

Pastor Wease Day, whose Sago Baptist Church was a centre for families awaiting news following the blast, said: "I'm sure there was a good old prayer meeting going on in that old coalmine."

"I can hear Jim Bennett hollering: 'boys, you need the Lord in your life'," he said.

The men were found trapped some two miles (three km) inside the mine, more than 42 hours after the explosion on 2 January.

West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin told the congregation: "We cannot know the purpose of this tragedy but I pledge to you we will determine the cause."

Investigators have not yet re-entered the mine.