I am all right now

Rescued miner Salim Ansari

But hopes of finding more survivors are fading after the bodies of three other miners were discovered.

Naval divers had been called in to assist in the rescue operation after the disaster.

Rescued

The rescued miner was found floating unconscious in an upper level of the mine where the water had almost receded, and was taken to hospital.

He later regained consciousness and spoke to his relatives.

Mr Ansari told the BBC that the accident took place when water suddenly gushed in as they extracted coal 1,200 feet below the ground.

Families are upset at the rescue effort

He said the current swept him along to an empty space now believed to be an air pocket in the mine.

He survived there for six days on the water around him.

Doctors attending on him at the Central Hospital in Dhanbad said he was not injured but was exhausted.

Company officials had said that the chances of finding anyone alive in the submerged mine were remote - the divers had failed to make any contact with the miners.

But the officials said that the water would be pumped from the mine completely by Thursday afternoon, allowing rescuers to enter and locate the remaining miners.

Negligence charges

Sixty-five men were rescued immediately after the disaster. Rescuers retrieved the body of one more miner on Monday.

Local police have filed charges of negligence against the mine management.

Scores of angry relatives and friends of miners protesting against the slow pace of the rescue have been involved in scuffles with officials near the mine.

Security has now been tightened around the mine following the protests.

The owners of the government-run mine have now said the families of the dead miners would be given full compensation.

The region, which has the largest coal deposits in India, has witnessed several mining accidents.

In 1995 more than 70 miners died in a mining accident following heavy rains.

The worst disaster took place in the 1975, when nearly 400 miners were killed in a mine collapse.