Bodies found in New Zealand disaster-stricken mine after 11 years

Gulf Today Report

Human remains have been found in a New Zealand coal mine, police said on Wednesday, more than a decade after one of the country's worst industrial disasters.

Twenty-nine men were killed after a series of blasts ignited by methane gas ripped through the Pike River mine on the west coast of the South Island in November 2010. Two men managed to escape.

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The 2010 Pike River Mine disaster was one of New Zealand's worst industrial accidents, shocking the nation and prompting multiple recovery attempts and a charged criminal investigation.

Workers walk past flowers for victims of a mine explosion at the Pike River mine at Greymouth in 2011. File/AP

The disaster is believed to have been caused by a blast triggered by a methane build-up.

Police Detective Superintendent Peter Read said they had located at least two bodies and possibly a third after a camera was sent down a newly dug hole. He said the bodies were found at the far end of the mine, where methane levels remain high.

Read said imaging technology had improved markedly since the disaster, which helped them make the discovery.

Men walk through after the first of the two airlock doors was opened in the Pike River Mine In 2019. File/AP

He said they hadn’t yet been able to identify the bodies, although they were working with forensic experts to see if that was possible. He said they had previously identified the six or eight miners believed to have been working in that area at the time.

Only two of the 31 miners on the afternoon shift were able to make their way out.

Tunnel collapses have all but ended efforts to recover the bodies or gain more evidence about the disaster.

But by digging a borehole, experts have now been able to gather images from the furthest reaches of the mine.

Flames burn from a ventilation shaft above the Pike River mine on Nov. 30, 2010 in Greymouth, New Zealand. File/AP

An earlier investigation concluded the Pike River Coal company had exposed miners to unacceptable risks as it strove to meet financial targets. The report found the company ignored 21 warnings that methane gas had accumulated to explosive levels before the disaster.

The company, which went bankrupt, didn’t contest labour violation charges against it.

Labor violation charges against former chief executive Peter Whittall were dismissed after he and the company made a financial settlement, a development that angered many of the grieving families.

New Zealand’s Supreme Court later ruled the settlement was unlawful.