ALL 29 TRAPPED NEW ZEALAND MINERS ARE FEARED DEAD
GREYMOUTH, New Zealand - All 29 miners trapped underground in a New Zealand mine for five days are believed to be dead following a second explosion in the Pike River Coal mine, police said on Wednesday."It is our belief that no one has survived and everyone will have perished. This is one of the most tragic things I have had to do as a police officer," police superintendent Gary Knowles told reporters.
The miners were trapped in the 2.3km main tunnel last Friday night when methane gas caused a massive explosion in the mountain on New Zealand's south island.- Deadly toxic gas and fears of further explosions stopped rescuers entering the mine, despite desperate pleas by the miners' relatives that rescue teams enter the mine to find their husbands and sons.
- Rescuers used robots and electronic devices to explore for life in the mine, but there were no signs that any survived the initial blast.
- On Wednesday morning rescuers said there was little chance any of the miners were still alive, but continued to monitor toxic gas levels hoping the air would clear enough for rescue teams to enter the mine. A few hours later a massive explosion occured.
Mine chief Peter Whittall said the second explosion was what rescuers had always feared.- "Its dangerous and its hazardous and the rescue teams would be putting their lives gravely at risk (to enter the mine). While we were there and making that assessment, exactly what we said could happen, happened," said Whittall.
- "Realistically many would never have come out alive," said a tearful Whittall.
But relatives of the dead miners were angry that rescuers had not immediately entered the mine to save their loved ones. They said that straight after the first blast the deadly gases would have been consumed in the explosion.- "If they do find that people were alive after that first blast there is going to be a lot of problems," said Laurie Drew, father of 21-year-old trapped miner Zen.
- "Now the truth can't come out because no one down there will come out alive," said Drew.
30 SUSPECTED MISSING AFTER EXPLOSION IN NEW ZEALAND MINE
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - An explosion ripped through a coal mine in New Zealand on Friday and around 30 workers were unaccounted for, police and the mining company said.Emergency services were racing to the Pike River Coal Processing Plant near the town of Atarau on the west coast, police said in a statement.
- Local Mayor Tony Kokshoorn told New Zealand's National Radio that up to 30 people at the mine were unaccounted for.
- "It's not good news at all," Kokshoorn said. "We don't know at what depth the explosion is but there's certainly a big explosion. With a bit of luck, things might be OK. But there's 25 to 30 miners unaccounted for."
Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Wittall told reporters that "the nature of the incident would appear to be an explosion."- He said two workers had made it out of the mine, but it was not known exactly how many others were still inside.
- "We've had our afternoon shift underground and we've had communications with a couple of the employees and we've had two men return to the surface," Wittall said. "They're being interviewed and we're trying to determine ... the full nature of the incident."
"One of the employees has said he felt an explosion underground and since then he's walked from the mine with another employee. We have no further information at this stage," he said.- Police area commander John Canning said details were still sparse but initial reports suggested at least 30 people were in the mine and that they could be up to 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) underground.
Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee said the blast happened at about 3:45 p.m. and the last contact with any of the miners was about 4:15 p.m.Brownlee said emergency exit tunnels were built into the mine but that he didn't know if they could be accessed by the miners.
- St. John Ambulance service said two rescue helicopters and 10 ambulances were heading for the mine.
- The coal seam is about 200 meters underground and is reached through a horizontal tunnel 1.43 miles (2.3 kilometers) in length. One vertical ventilation shaft rises 354 feet (108 meters) from the tunnel to the surface, according to the company's website. This was blocked by falling rocks within the shaft in early 2009, delaying mining for months.
Pike River has been operating since 2008, mining a seam with 58.5 million tons of coal, the largest-known deposit of hard coking coal in New Zealand, according to its website.- Pike River says its coal preparation plant at the site is the largest and most modern in New Zealand and processes up to 1.5 million tons of raw coal a year.
- The mine is not far from the site of one of New Zealand's worst mining disasters — an underground explosion in the state-owned Strongman Mine on Jan. 19, 1967, that killed 19 workers.
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