This from CBS News:

McCloy can make noises when doctors cover his breathing tube. Whether he will be able to speak when the tube is removed depends on the extent of the brain damage he suffered from carbon monoxide during his 41 hours trapped underground, Bailes said. Twelve fellow miners died after the explosion Jan. 2 [in Melville, West Virginia].

And this, via Badtux, from a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation story yesterday, headlined All 72 miners surface after Saskatchewan fire:

Word quickly spread that there was a fire in the mine. Morrison left in a truck to head to one of the emergency refuge stations, which had enough internal oxygen supplies to last at least 36 hours, as well as water, food, blankets, chairs and beds.

And this from Daniel Schorr in the Christian Science Monitor:

The deregulatory attitude of the government is evident in the drop in referrals for coal mines for possible criminal action — dropping from 38 to 12 last year. The Bush administration has pursued a policy of forging a cooperative relationship between the mine operators and the safety administration. Most of the safety regulations proposed during the Clinton administration were dropped by President Bush soon after he came into office.