Mine Explosion in New Zealand

[Lesley Cox]

Mid afternoon on Friday, there was a massive explosion in the Pike River coal mine on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. So far no-one has been able to enter the mine to find out what has happened and hopefully, rescue alive, the 29 men who are trapped inside. They include 24 New Zealanders, 2 Australians, 2 Britons and a South African, mostly miners employed by the Pike River company but some are engineers and others contracted for specialist jobs.

Continuous testing shows that the methane levels are very high and it is feared that it was an explosion of methane gas and coal dust which was strong enough to blow up trees and a hut near the emergency exit from the mine. Two men were near the entrance and walked out, with moderate injuries, one having literally been blown off his machine, and back into a tunnel for hundreds of metres.

Nothing is known of the others as both the communications systems and the ventilation systems are out of commission so the men's fate hangs in the balance. Each man who goes into the mine must carry a small emergency breathing apparatus which creates oxygen from the man's own recycled breath but these are last resort things.

In the meantime, NZ Police who are to co-ordinate the rescue when it happens, won't let any others go down to see what the situation is, because of the gas levels and the families of the men are getting deeply frightened as they wait for progress and a rescue to start.

This mine is quite different from the Chilean mine where men could be extracted through a vertical rescue tube. Pike River travels several kilometres underground into a mountain, in a very remote area, and the shafts are roughly horizontal, not vertical.

We all hope, desperately hope, that the men will be found alive and able to be rescued, very soon but is is difficult to see a joyful outcome at Pike River, such as that when the Chileans miners were successfully brought to the surface.

[daveyp1970]

Lesley i have been following this,from what i understand there ex pats trapped as well,i hope everything works out for them.

[Paul T]

The other problem apparently is that unlike being solid rock and therefore relatively straightforward to drill through, if the men are located and OK, it is much harder to drill down to them, even though they are MUCH shallower.  A much higher likelihood of collapse than in Chile.  The youngest guy in there is 17, oldest 57 (or something close to that).  All up, not good at all.  My fingers, and everything else, are crossed for their safe location and rescue.

I hope all goes VERY well.

[Anthony Darby]

It's headline news here, so we are following it with fingers crossed. Central Scotland has had its fair share of mining disasters in the past, but nothing within living memory.

[Maren]

We are all very concerned. Clearly the situation is very different to Chile and the fact that they are testing for gas adds to the anxiety. We feel for the relatives and friends, too. At times like this the world shrinks and we all become just one family looking out for the ones we love. All we can do is hope.

[cohan]

haven't seen news yet today, but no doubt they will be following it... hoping for the best...

[Luc Gilgemyn]

I really hope it's not another tragedy in the making and that things work out fine in the end.. 
The anguish must be enormously distressing for family and friends at the surface. 

It's on the news here as well and we're keeping our fingers crossed !

[Paul T]

The last I heard (lunchtime today news) there was evidence that a fire is still burning in the mine somewhere as the temperatures in the mine are rising and particular gasses are in evidence.  I don't know whether they've even managed to actually get into the mine as yet.

[Lesley Cox]

No, even now, 7.30 Monday morning (6.30pm in the UK) no-one has entered the mine. The gas level testing is being done every half hour and there is some drop but it fluctuates. An Australian company has set up a drill on the mountain above where the men MAY be and is doing a narrow hole down which a testing apparatus can be lowered and samples taken. The explosion was apparently quite near the portal of the emergency exit well away from the work area but of course gas travels. The affected families are becoming distraught with apparent lack of action, understandably, but there is the requirement too, not to endanger further lives, the rescuers.'

The 2 Britons down there are from Perth and St Andrews in Scotland. Their families talked on our TV news last night.

[Lesley Cox]

This mine was identified as a source of high quality coal over 75 years ago but was only brought into production at the beginning of this year, and has been dogged by controversy as a mining option, for many years. It is on conservaton land and in many (most) people's minds should never have been commissioned in the first place. The area is the home of a rare NZ native snail and millions of dollars have been spent relocating the snails before the mine was allowed to go ahead. Where the snails were supposed to go I don't know but in the event, most are housed in plastic boxes in some warehouse or scientific facility, not released back to nature. Their future seems undecided, at best.

The coal itself is largely pre-sold to China and, I think, Russia, so if the mine is closed when the men are out and no doubt enquiries held, NZ will have massive compensation bills to pay I expect.

[Lesley Cox]

The worst possible news. Today at 2.37pm, a second explosion "ripped through" (the CEO's words) the mine, massively larger than the first, and he was advised that "no-one could possibly have survived it." So it is now assumed that all 29 miners have died. It was still very unsafe for rescue teams to enter the mine and so no-one had done so. Testing through the newly completed bore hole showed 95% methane gas in the area tested. Of course the families are devastated by this news and there is some anger at the police, particularly the Commander of the Grey District Police, who headed the rescue mission, since ultimately it was his decision to permit or not, people to enter the mine. But the very fact of this explosion which could have happened a day after the first, or two or three days, shows that his decisions were the right ones, and in the main the families have acknowledged that, even though some of the international press are reluctant to do so.

As the Mayor of the Grey District says this evening, "this is the West Coast's darkest hour."

[fermi de Sousa]

So sorry to hear about this, Lesley.
We hadn't turned on the TV yet so hadn't heard the news today.
Perhaps they'll return the area to a national park now.
cheers
fermi

[John Kitt]

Have been following the news all week and the latest terrible news Lesley.
Tasmanians have a special feeling for this disaster given the long but relatively good outcome of the Beaconsfield Mine collapse.
We had hoped it might be the same for you.
We are thinking of all New Zealanders.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

It's on the news here this afternoon as well.  Awful!  I'm in agreement that this does seem to show that the decision to wait was the right one to make, but the mine managers were going to be damned if they did or damned if they didn't, either way.  One guy is going on at length about a coverup, which I'm sure is what will end up being reported all around the world.  It might make him feel better, but it can't be helping everyone else.  I still hope that by some fluke they will find survivors, but it is definitely looking more and more remote, particularly as they'd now be even less likely to send people in for fear of yet another explosion.  And if Lesley is right about all the coal being pre-sold, then closing the mine just means compensation going to the buyers before the families.  It's a lose, lose situation.

My heart goes out to the families of all involved, whichever of the 4 countries involved that they're in.  I hope there is some better news to come.... we can only live in hope.

[Brian Ellis]

Such a tragedy is unfolding here, the hearts of the world are going out to those poor families involved.