Mine Survivor In 'Moderate Coma'

(CBS/AP)  Mining disaster survivor Randal McCloy Jr. has been responding to stimuli, but has developed a slight fever and remains in critical condition, doctors said Monday.

McCloy, 26, was taken off sedation Sunday and has been breathing without the help of a ventilator, though he remains connected to the device, said Dr. Larry Roberts, his attending physician at West Virginia University's Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown.

"Randy has developed a fever, which is a common occurrence in any patient's intensive care course," he said. "This is almost an expected complication."

McCloy, the only survivor among 13 men trapped by a Jan. 2 explosion, was rescued after spending nearly two days underground.

He was transferred back to the West Virginia hospital late Saturday after undergoing hyperbaric oxygen treatment, which forces pressurized oxygen into the body to fight carbon monoxide poisoning, at Pittsburgh's Allegheny General Hospital.

Doctors said Monday they plan to start physical therapy to exercise McCloy's muscles and promote blood flow through his arms and legs, which appear to have become more reactive to stimulation.

Dr. Julian Bailes, a neurosurgeon at the hospital, said McCloy was still in a "moderate coma."

He said it was still too early to make an accurate prognosis about McCloy's recovery, but his brain stem appears to be completely normal.

"He is likely one of the longest survivors of this sort of exposure, not only carbon monoxide, but the other circumstances in the mine, for about 42 hours," Bailes said.

A complete recovery may not be possible, outside experts say.

"Overall you're going to see a slowing of the patient's mental abilities ... cognitive problems, thinking, the speed at which you make decisions," Dr. Keith Siller, head of neurology at New York University Medical Center in New York, told CBS News' Tony Guida.

The update on McCloy's condition came as funerals continued for the other 12 miners, with funerals spread over at least three days including Tuesday.

As the community grieves, the work of uncovering why the miners died was resuming Monday. Federal investigators were at Sago Mine over the weekend, but no one will be allowed into the mine until carbon monoxide and other deadly gases are vented.

International Coal Group Inc. said in a statement that the mine's fan was working and circulating air through the mine. A pair of ventilation holes have been completed, and the company was working on a pilot hole for a planned vent in the area of the mine where the explosion apparently occurred.

Over the weekend, the last shipment of coal rolled out of the Sago mine, now closed during the investigation — coal that may have been mined by the men who died, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston.