10 Apr 2010

All 29 US coalminers' bodies now found

9:51 pm on 10 April 2010

The death toll from a coalmine explosion in the American state of West Virginia has risen to 29 with the finding of the bodies of the last four miners, who had been missing for nearly five days.

Rising levels of methane gas had hindered rescue operations.

A safety administrator, Kevin Strickland, says that an electrical fault may have caused the accident but that the investigation could take some time.

US President Barack Obama has ordered a report into the explosion.