New Zealand mine explosion: 27 miners trapped

[busybeeburns]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzoZmf8YsME]YouTube - Miners missing after New Zealand explosion[/ame]

 

Up to 27 miners are trapped underground after an explosion ripped through a coal mine on New Zealand's South Island

 

The blast took place at the Pike River Coal mine, 160 miles west of Christchurch.

 

The mine's management said up to 27 workers were trapped by the explosion and that two men, who were in a separate part of the mine, had managed to find their way out.

 

Peter Whittall, the mine's chief executive, said that the two men had returned to the surface and they were being interviewed to try and determine the full extent of the incident. The men had minor injuries and had not had any communication with the trapped men, he said. "One of the employees has said they felt an explosion underground, and since then he's walked from the mine with another employee," Mr Whittall said.

 

Earlier, Tony Kokshoorn, the mayor of Grey District, where the mine is located, told Radio NZ: "It's not good".

 

"We don't know at what depth the explosion is but there's certainly a big explosion," he said.

 

The New Zealand Herald website reported that one man had died in the accident.

 

Police, the fire service, helicopters and ambulances were converging on the mine and mine rescue teams were being brought in as the mine operators considered how to try to reach the trapped men. Worried families of the miners were also starting to arrive at the gates of the mine.

 

John Canning, the police area commander, said details were still sparse but initial reports suggested that the men could be up to 5,000 feet underground. Gerry Brownlee, the energy minister, said that the blast took place at 3.45pm local time. He did not know the condition of the trapped men, but said that they included miners on the afternoon shift and members of the mine management, who were on a safety tour at the time.

 

Mr Brownlee said emergency exit tunnels were built into the mine but that he didn't know if they could be accessed by the miners.

 

The incident was discovered when an electrician went into the mine to investigate a power outage and found one employee had been blown off his machine by the blast.

 

The mine, which is 1.4 miles deep, is located on the largest-known deposit of hard coking coal in New Zealand, with 58.5 million tonnes of coal in-ground. It employs 140 people and produces 1.5m tonnes of coal per year.

 

The mine has been open since 2008 and was increasing production after a series of technical problems delayed its development.

 

New Zealand's most recent mine disaster, in 1967, killed 19 miners.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/8145327/New-Zealand-mine-explosion-27-miners-trapped.html

[busybeeburns]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW_2TgAIDVI]YouTube - Rescue Stalled[/ame]

[Italian Plastic]

They don't even know if the miners are alive :blank:

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

They don't even know if the miners are alive :blank:

 

It's desperately unsettling. This sort of news is just the worst. We see it developing into something that is much worse than anyone could imagine.

[Lore]

Hope all of them are alive.

[Crests]

Is it bad that I laughed? :anxious:

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

Is it bad that I laughed? :anxious:

 

Huh? What is there to laugh at Crests?

[Reilly]

^^Is it bad I laughed at that? :anxious:

 

But yeah it is kinda bad you laughed, horrible situ lil Cresto.

[Destrokk]

What copy cats.

[Crests]

I'm sorry, it just struck me as rather funny because of the Chilean miners and yeah. :disappointed:

 

I quite hope they're okay. :anxious:

[busybeeburns]

 

New Zealand mine: 'No survivors' after second blast

 

All 29 men missing in a New Zealand coal mine since Friday are believed to be dead after a second explosion.

 

Police Supt Gary Knowles said there was no hope that anyone could have survived the "massive" underground blast at the Pike River mine on South Island. Prime Minister John Key said the deadliest mine accident in New Zealand for 96 years was a "national tragedy".

 

Rescuers never made contact with the 24 New Zealanders, two Australians, two Britons and a South African. The Britons were Peter Rodger, 40, and Malcolm Campbell, 25, who were both originally from Scotland.

 

"Many British citizens have made their home in New Zealand and the loss of Mr Rodger, Mr Campbell and their colleagues will have touched the hearts of many in the UK," said UK Foreign Secretary William Hague. Supt Knowles, who led the rescue operation, said there had been another explosion at 1437 (0137 GMT) on Wednesday inside the mine.

 

"It is our belief that no-one has survived and everyone will have perished," he told reporters. I was at the mine myself when this actually occurred and the blast was horrific, just as severe as the first blast and we're currently now moving into recovery phase.

 

"This is one of the most tragic things I have had to do as a police officer."

 

Rescuers had been preparing to go into the mine on Wednesday, but information suggested the levels of methane gas were too high. Shortly afterwards, the second explosion happened. It was larger and stronger than Friday's blast, and lasted about 30 seconds, officials said.

 

The chief executive of Pike River Coal, Peter Whittall, said it would make every effort to retrieve the bodies of the men, aged between 17 and 62.

 

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11662533

[Crests]

;___;

[deaths_friend]

theres a lot of animosity surrounding this tragedy. the families feel that they were left out of the loop and there wasnt enough urgency to save the men. and its understandable that they are very upset and confused particularly after all those chilean and chinese miners were saved and a couple of years back a couple of aussie miners were saved in a similar predicament.

[Lore]

what happened with the government or the mine rescuers? did they use all the resources available?

[Italian Plastic]

They did well trying to save them, but they did it too late. I wasn't exactly expecting them to be alive in the first place but :\

 

This is awful news. Basically every male on my mums side of the family is or has been a miner in Greymouth (near this mine) :sad:

[Cobalt]

what happened with the government or the mine rescuers? did they use all the resources available?

 

I would say so, they sent robot things down there with cameras to have a look, one was even being brought over from America. I know the families probably feel they weren't given much information but there wasn't really much to begin with... apart from that the air quality wasn't good and high gas levs etc.

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

Rest in Peace to the 29.

[Crests]

Why is the term "rest" used in instances where people die? Dead people aren't resting, they're being dead.

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

Why is the term "rest" used in instances where people die? Dead people aren't resting, they're being dead.

 

?

[Crests]

You know, like rest in peace.

[Batman]

Why is the term "rest" used in instances where people die? Dead people aren't resting, they're being dead.

Maybe because the word "dead" has a harsher effect than "rest" on people and "rest" sounds more peaceful or something.

 

This is really a tradegy, the poor relatives :(

[Crests]

I mean, when people say they're gonna go rest for a bit people don't go "R.I.P".

 

Maybe because the word "dead" has a harsher effect than "rest" on people and "rest" sounds more peaceful or something.

 

This is really a tradegy, the poor relatives

 

Eh. I'll also never understand why people apologize when someone dies.

 

 

Yeah. :sad:

[Batman]

 

Eh. I'll also never understand why people apologize when someone dies.

 

 

Yeah. :sad:

 

Me neither, I mean it's not my fault when someone else dies :sad:

[Batman]

I mean, when people say they're gonna go rest for a bit people don't go "R.I.P".

:lol: That would sound REALLY creepy

[illuvcoldplay]

latest I heard was that they all died. This is so tragic and sad :( may they all rest in peace