SOME of the 12 coal miners who died following an explosion in West Virginia left notes behind assuring family members their final hours trapped underground were not spent in agony, a relative said yesterday.

Some of the 12 coal miners who died following an explosion in West Virginia left notes behind assuring family members that their final hours trapped underground were not spent in agony, a relative said today.

The lone survivor of a US coal mine explosion that killed 12 showed some encouraging signs overnight, but had not woken and was in a coma, doctors said today.

JOY gave way to grief and anger yesterday when a West Virginia coal town learned that 12 of 13 miners trapped in a mine explosion had died.

FAMILY members believe the officials likely knew of the miners’ fates some time before then - maybe as soon as 20 minutes after the celebration began.

Family members of victims in a fatal mining accident became enraged and lunged at a coal company official after being told today that only one of 13 miners had survived a mine explosion, witnesses said.

A MINING company executive said officials are “very discouraged” by air quality tests in the mine where 13 workers are trapped, and planned to drill a third hole to take additional air samples.

Thirteen coal miners in West Virginia remained trapped 260 feet below ground today, after an explosion that may have been triggered by lightning.

Thirteen US miners were trapped today in an underground explosion at a coal mine in Tallmansville, West Virginia.