BREAKING New Zealand coal mine blast leaves up to 30 unaccounted for

WELLINGTON — An explosion in a coal mine on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island has left up to 30 miners unaccounted for, the district's mayor said on Friday.
The explosion was at the Pike River Coal Co. Ltd's underground mine about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the town of Greymouth.
"It's not good news at all, they (police) say there are between 25 and 30 miners unaccounted for, after a big explosion at the mine," Greymouth mayor Tony Kokshoorn told Radio New Zealand.
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. The New Zealand Herald said the mine has an evacuation chute miners can use to escape if the main tunnel entrance is blocked.
A Herald video journalist described a small channel, which is just a ladder to the top of the mountain.

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I hope these guys are OK... Another mine accident what a tragedy.

Is it just me, or has it seemed these mine accidents have been happening ALOT more often...

This sounds serious, hope they can retreive alive and well, thanks for posting this.
I'm a kiwi living in Japan and my folks live on the coast but probably wouldn't have heard about this for awhile if not for your post, again thanks and prey for their safe recovery.

reply to post by thecinic


Dammit! I have been trying to see on this site how to start a thread so I could post this and you beat me to it. Yeah, just heard on the radio that there are 35 miners unaccounted for. The last time they spoke to anyone down there was at 1600 and the guy said that he was okay. I will kepp an eye on the latest news for the next hour or so til i have to go out.
Lets hope these guys are all okay.

Thanks for postng this - I couldn't for the life of me find any info on this site on how to start a thread (yes I used the search function - no help whatsoever).

Great post. Keep us updated.

reply to post by 3finjo



Up the top right is says 'New Thread'.

Just click it and your away

Latest update from local radio news (1900 local time). There are 36 miners missing. Two have made it to the surface and are being interviewed as to the seriousness of the incident and possible causes. There are 6 ambulances on scene and 3 medic helicopters are being sent to the scene. The mine manager said he can't say if anyone is injured at this stage.

Latest:
Gas detecting equipment arriving from Australia ( we have none?? ), ambulances and helicopters back to base as there is nothing for them to do right now.
There are charred trees on the surface near where the explosion took place.....it doesnt look good from where I stand unfortunately.

www.youtube.com...

They are drilling a shaft 150m down to test the air samples to see when it will be safe to enter the mine. At this stage the gas levels are still too high and volatile for a safe rescue. There is a fire down there now, too which is making things harder by adding more gases to the mix. Last update a couple of hours ago was that they had drilled to 100m depth so far.

Once the shaft is drilled they will also be able to send optic cable down to see if they can see anything. All our thoughts and prayers to those men.

Yes just heard that they are sending a robot down the gasses are so bad down there can not get rescuers in... Very sad indeed.

Well just an update... according to the news right now they had another massive explosion in the mine around 2:30 or so this afternoon, and they basically say there's no way anyone could have survived in there... so its gone from rescue to recovery of the 29 deceased. Still think they could have tried a rescue much earlier, and that they pussy footed around far to much... that being said we cant really think of that now, since its all in hindsight, and im sure there will be an inquiry into the event.

Hopefully they find something to recover, if its as hot as some say it could be in the mine, then I dont think there will be all that much to recover all in all... not the best of days for my country. At least bad news is some news for the families with family that was involved.