NZ mine explosion: Hopes for missing men fading

[Parihaka]

NZ mine explosion: Hopes for missing men fading

Hopes are dwindling for 29 men who remain missing four days after a mine explosion in New Zealand, police say.

"The longer it goes on, hopes fade and we have to be realistic," said police superintendent Gary Knowles, who is co-ordinating rescue efforts.

An army robot sent inside a tunnel leading to the men broke down, he said.

Supt Knowles said rescuers were still assessing air quality in the mine in the country's south island, to decide whether rescuers can attempt to go in.

"We will not go underground until the environment is safe," he told reporters on Tuesday.

Dangerous levels of methane and carbon monoxide in the Pike River mine near Greymouth have hampered rescue efforts.

Probes are taking gas samples. A listening device is due to be lowered down a borehole, which is being drilled.

Supt Knowles said drilling team had hit "very hard rock" overnight.

'Kick in the guts'

The military remote-controlled robot sent into the main shaft broke down after being damaged by water.

"We've had a kick in the guts," Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn told AFP news agency. "It's history."

The BBC's Phil Mercer at the Pike River Mine says that for relatives of the 29 men, the wait is agonising.

There has been no contact with the miners - 24 New Zealanders, two Australians, two Britons and a South African - since the explosion on Friday.

The blast is believed to have been caused by methane.

Each miner carried 30 minutes of oxygen, enough to reach oxygen stores in the mine that would allow them to survive for several days.

Fresh air is also being pumped into the mine.

While the men would reportedly have been carrying flasks of water, there is no food underground. Their cap lamps were expected to run out after about 24 hours.

I've been holding off on this but it's just getting embarrassing. Dead or alive these poor buggers have been down that mine for 5 days and the Police have accomplished nothing. They've become so risk averse that the only possible solution for them in situations like this is to do nothing and wait for the 'problem' to go away.

[Parihaka]

'Why didn't they put gladwrap on robot?'

The Defence Force robot was "the bright spot" for West Coast residents waiting on the rescue of 29 trapped miners and news it broke down this morning was "a kick in the guts", the Grey District Mayor says.

Relatives of the miners were told this morning that the robot sent into the Pike River mine was not waterproofed and malfunctioned when water fell onto it.

Mayor Tony Kokshoorn told nzherald.co.nz news a robot was going into the mine had been a rare piece of positive news.

"We were hanging our hat on that. When the robot packed up and when they said they couldn't retrieve it I started losing hope at that point," he said.

"I'm only a lay person, my first thoughts were why didn't it have a bit of gladwrap over it.

"I thought this robot is going to go in and tell us the condition of the miners. But when they said the water had got in it was just demoralising."

Mr Kokshoorn said it was crucial to get another robot into the mine to assess the situation while toxic gases prevented rescuers from entering.

"If they can locate the miners with a robot and if those miners are alive, I think at that point in time it will be time to take some risks."

Tasman Area Police Commander Superintendent Gary Knowles told a media conference the robot was sent into the mine at 6am and he was informed at 8am it had broken down.

Reporters were told the robot had only got 550m into the mine when it malfunctioned.

"We will be speaking to the Defence Force this morning to establish whether it [the robot] got any visuals. Anything of a visual nature would only show us a clear tunnel because there was no men in that area."

Mr Knowles said rescuers were trying to get more advanced robots from Western Australia and America to deploy underground.

He said authorities were "pulling all strings" and the Royal New Zealand Air Force would fly in the Australian robot on a Hercules aircraft.

Mr Kokshoorn said he had spoken on the Australian breakfast show Sunrise where he appealed for Prime Minister Julia Gillard to "just please put it (the robot) on an airforce jet and bring it over to us".

"I've no doubt they (the Australian Government) will have pulled out every stop for us."

'Kick in the guts'

Earlier, Mr Kokshoorn said the breakdown of the robot had angered family members and made them question the rescue efforts at Pike River.

Hearing the high-tech defence force robot had short circuited after water from the ceiling dripped on it was a "kick in the guts" for them, he said.

"We were hanging our hopes on the robot because it can get around anywhere in the mine and tell you where our miners are and how they are. Without rescuers it was the next best thing.

"We walked in there and it was a kick in the guts. It's history. Imagine how that went down."

"People really started to be questioning of the procedures. There's a certain amount of anger coming up now. It was very emotional for everyone including myself."

Frustration turned to anger when family members after they were told a replacement robot was being flown in from the United States, he said.

"They asked why didn't they have a backup on their way already. Hell, it's desperate. It's so frustrating."

He implored families and the wider community not to give up hope of getting the miners out alive.

News of 29 Chinese miners rescued from a coal mine yesterday had buoyed some spirits, he says.

"We've got to take heart from those kinds of things."

[Parihaka]

Not only are they not doing anything including developing plans, they are preventing anyone else from doing anything as well.

[dave lukins]

Pari, it must be so infuriating for the relatives and people of NZ to watch this. Even the damn robot is inactive.

[Parihaka]

It's maddening Dave, absolutely maddening. Today the test bore was completed and the gas coming out was not only deemed to be too dangerous for rescuers to enter the mine but the police took it upon themselves to say it may never be 'safe' to enter. This despite many trained rescuers saying that they were willing to try but the police were preventing them from doing so.
The media for the first time allowed some of the families to have their say and they were very damning of the police. The families aren't people who know nothing of the situation, many of them are multi-generation mining families with more experience than the so-called experts that are advising the police.
Our people if not already dead are dying and all the police will do is set up a cordon and refuse all help from within New Zealand and overseas.

The bomb disposal robot that broke down was according to the police the very best available. An australian mine rescue unit said no it's not, we have one purpose designed and offered it to them. 5 days after the offer the police commisioner was publicly embarrassed by an Australian reporter stating this fact during an interview and guess what? It's now been flown over.

[Bigfella]

Pari,

Looks like its all over. There has been a massive explosion in the mine & the authorities have declared that no one could have survived. The operation has moved from rescue to recovery. Bloody terrible.

[Parihaka]

Yep. The problem for the police has gone away.

[Parihaka]

Pari,

Looks like its all over. There has been a massive explosion in the mine & the authorities have declared that no one could have survived. The operation has moved from rescue to recovery. Bloody terrible.

The second explosion has been described as about the same as the first. Two men survived that and walked out. But yes, no matter what now the remaining men are dead.

[dave lukins]

The second explosion has been described as about the same as the first. Two men survived that and walked out. But yes, no matter what now the remaining men are dead.

It certainly doesn't look good and to survive a second explosion would be a miracle.

"The country's prime minister, John Key, said the second blast was "a national tragedy" and that official flags would fly at half mast and parliament adjourn as a mark of respect. "New Zealand has been devastated by the news that we have all been dreading,"

[ShawnG]

...and that official flags would fly at half mast and parliament adjourn as a mark of respect...

Based off what Parihaka was saying, it looks like this would be an unchanged situation from before they were officially declared dead.

[crooks]

God that's the worst news I've heard in a long time, just shocking, Ar deis dé go raibh a n-ainm. Thoughts with the families of the deceased.

[captain]

The second explosion has been described as about the same as the first. Two men survived that and walked out. But yes, no matter what now the remaining men are dead.

Please, for the sake of the families, don't give up on them yet because it will allow the "risk averse" legitimacy both now and in any future event.

Until all the the men are recovered either dead or alive, keep up the pressure on Supt Dudley Do-right to allow the mining rescue professionals to do what they want to do.
I do not understand how a cop can be allowed authority to call the shots in this situation.

I have talked to a couple of miners from Broken Hill re this and they are flabergasted at the seeming inactivity and remarked that the priorty should have been re-establishing the existing mine ventilation and adding to the capacity via portable extractor fans to expell the volatile gasses at a greater velocity.
As it seems to have turned out, the volitile gasses where allowed to build up again, virtually assuring another explosion.

A tragic and sad event for all concerned and I hope lessons are learned for the sake of future miners and their families.

[bigross86]

It's a crying shame that such inefficient people are in high enough positions to rain down damage and misfortune on so many people just by doing nothing, or even worse, doing the absolutely wrong things

[Albany Rifles]

Pari

My thoughts are with you and your countrymen.

I worked in a coal mine in the mid1970s to help pay for college. Despite all the safety measures soemthing like this was always at the back of the mind...and you always had a belief that those above ground would be competent to come get you if something happened. If you didn't you wouldn't have the guts to climb into the rail cars which took you underground.