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Related
Live updates from earlier on Wednesday, prior to the second massive blast at the Pike River coal mine that none of the 29 miners survived.
For updates following the second blast, on Wednesday,
click here .
4:49pm: BREAKING NEWS - Second explosion reported:
The families of the Pike River miners have been told at a briefing
this afternoon that all 29 men are dead. There has been a second
explosion today at 2:37pm. Superintendent Gary Knowles says no-one
could have survived that explosion.
4:41pm: Yellow ribbon has run out in Greymouth, where it is being worn by hundreds in the West Coast town as they wait in hope for news on the 29 miners trapped underground. Local Post Shop manager Debbie Norton came up with the idea, and says a colleague in Wellington has offered to make more ribbons by tomorrow.
4:39pm: Families of the miners trapped in the Pike River mine have gathered again for another briefing with officials. They are expected to be shown footage from a robot that went in today.
4:24pm: Police Minister Judith Collins has defended the delay in the release of a video showing the explosion at the Pike River mine. The 50 second CCTV vision of the explosion at the mine entrance shows how big the blast was. Collins said police were not responsible for withholding the video and were keen to make all information public.
3:57pm: Grey District mayor Tony Kokshoorn says the Council is fielding numerous enquiries from people wanting to make a financial donation, but that no official fund has yet been set up. The miners' families are receiving extensive support from numerous agencies including the Red Cross and Air New Zealand. He said the Council would like to extend its thanks to all those offering support.
3:35pm: A press conference with updates on the Pike River mine will be held at 5pm. It will be aired live on TV ONE as part of an extended ONE News special and will also be streamed live online.
3:11pm: One of the families of the miners trapped underground on the West Coast say they are humbled by the support they have been receiving. 23-year-old Michael Monk is a builder who's been contracted to Pike River coal mine for the past six months, and his parents Bernie and Kath say they have been flooded by kind wishes and prayers. They say the support is giving them strength as they cope with the uncertainty.
2:42pm: Work mates of the trapped miners have had an emotional meeting at the Grey District Council this afternoon. Around 100 colleagues, families members and friends gathered to hear an update from Pike River Coal. Chairman John Dow says there were tears from most of the group.
1:59pm: Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee has criticised an Australian journalist covering the Pike River mine explosion, calling him an "utter tosspot", it has been reported. The Australian reporter Ean Higgins caused a stir at this morning's media briefing when he asked Superintendent Gary Knowles why a "local country cop" is making all the big calls. Knowles replied: "This is a multi-agency approach...this is not a union matter, sir, it's a matter for the experts."
1:21pm: A drop in centre set up in Greymouth
says it did not have a busy first day, with more volunteers present
than public.
Salvation Army's Captain Charles Prattley says many locals still do
not know about the base which provides additional support to locals
and up to date police information.
The centre is open from 8am - 8pm Monday to Friday and 10 to 4pm on
Saturday.
12:50pm: A meeting of Pike River employees is
winding up on the West Coast. Around 100 people were at the
meeting, where they were addressed by CEO Peter Whittall for the
first time since the incident. They were given information on how
to cope with trauma.
Clearly upset by the explosion, the mood among the men outside is
sombre with many hugging one another.
Among them was a man who was part of the crew still underground but
he was off work that day for a medical appointment and visibly
distraught.
12:15pm: Daniel Rockhouse, one of two men who
escaped the mine after the blast, spoke to ONE News after the
latest briefing. "I've got all the hope in the world, and that's
all I'm holding on to," he said.
"All you guys need to pray for them as well. Just give Pike River
staff and the mine rescue and everybody all the support they need
and just hang in there, I guess."
12:10pm: ONE News reporter Charlotte Bellis says it has been an eventful morning at the police cordon at the mine. She says there has been a large number of trucks and personnel, including Superintendent Gary Knowles, through the cordon today.
11:45am: Gerry Brownlee says the caution on
rescue attempts is to avoid risk to survivors and not because
authorities believe the trapped miners are dead and there was no
point in risking rescuers' lives.
He said engineers still did not know if the mine had
collapsed.
He also confirmed there would be several inquiries, including one
into mine safety by the Department of Labour and one by police.
10:50am: Questions from overseas media on how
the rescue operation is being run caused tension at this morning's
briefing.
Superintendent Gary Knowles was asked by an American journalist
working for an Australian organisation as to why a "country cop" is
in charge of the rescue operation. Knowles pointed out he is the
District Commander of an area that covers three quarters of the
South Island.
10:47am: A fourth robot, from the US, will be shipped down to Greymouth by Air New Zealand at 7.15am tomorrow.
10:45am: A piece of tubing that enables real-time air analysis is arriving from Queensland and expected to be up and running at the mine today.
10:32am: Lawrie Drew, the father of one of the
29 miners trapped underground, says he walked out of a briefing
with families today.
"I walked out because to me it's the same PR (public relations)
rubbish," Drew, whose son Zen, 21, is underground, said.
10:30am: Whittall has refused to speculate on claims that there was an opportunity straight after the mine blast to go into the mine for a rescue mission. He also said he can't comment on whether the gas levels found in the mine are survivable.
10:26am: The Pike River CEO has spoken of the latest briefing with the miners' families. He says their hopes are diminishing. Whittall has also expressed his thanks for the support he and his staff have received from New Zealanders and from around the world.
10:25am: Whittall says the second robot is currently about 800m into the mine tunnel.
10:24am: Whittall says it is good news that the miner headlamp that the first robot found still had its light going.
10:23am: Whittall says the location of the planned second bore-hole has changed slightly.
10:22am: Pike River CEO Peter Whittall says the bore-hole went deeper than it was expected to. He says air tests have shown low levels of oxygen and high levels of methane and carbon monoxide.
10:20am: Knowles says air testing shows the environment in the mine is still unstable.
10:18am: Superintendent Gary Knowles says the robot came across a miner's helmet this morning.
10:15am: The police spokesperson says there is some footage out of the first robot. It is being assessed and will be shown to the miners' families first before being shown to the public.
10:00am: Another press conference is about to get underway in Greymouth.
9:45am: A drill has broken through rock into the Pike River mine, creating a bore-hole. Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee has told Newstalk ZB it's good news.
9:40am: The Western Australian robot that has been flown to Hokitika still has not left the airport. It has been loaded on to a flat bed truck and washed down.
9:15am: The brother of one of the 29 miners
trapped underground in the Pike River mine says he's had a
"guts-full" of waiting for a rescue operation to get
underway.
"We never had a crack, we've got to have a crack ... We've got to
know, they've got to go in and have a look," Geoff Valli told Radio
New Zealand this morning.
Valli said the best time to go into the mine would have been as
soon as possible after the explosion.
"I know what I'm asking other guys to do... but they're prepared to
go in and do it and you know, they're not taking their mother down
there - they're rescue guys," he said.
He said it was "time for men to do what men have got to do".
8:50am: Police Superintendent Gary Knowles says
police have received a lot of offers from people willing to go into
the mine now, despite safety risks.
"As I've previously said... it's not an option. I don't want to put
other lives at risk and pose a situation where the rescuers go
underground and for some unforeseen situation they get trapped as
well."
8:10am: The Hercules carrying a heavy duty robot from Western Australia has landed at Hokitika airport. The robot is being transported to Pike River.
8:05am: New Zealand robotics expert Dale
Carnegie says robots can add to the very limited knowledge rescuers
have of the situation inside the mine.
"In this case, because of the gases and the various other things,
fair enough, people don't want to risk other lives going in, so the
best thing these robots can do is to give the rescuers a good view
about what the situation is inside there," he told TV ONE's
Breakfast.
"But absolutely the best case is [the robot] can make contact with survivors and then they know that help is on the way. It just removes that isolation for [the miners]."
7:50am: There are another two press conferences scheduled today over the Pike River mine rescue - 10am and 5pm. TV ONE will broadcast both live. They will both also be live streamed on tvnz.co.nz
7:45am: Police have spoken to NZPA about the
first robot's reactivation this morning.
"It was able to be reactivated overnight and was able to travel up
to 1000m into the mine - that was basically the extent of the
battery life that was left," police spokesman Stephen Hill
said.
Police could not provide any details about any information the
robot might have gathered.
7:35am: Labour leader Phil Goff is in Greymouth
and has spoken to TV ONE's Breakfast about concerns raised about
the number of mine inspectors in New Zealand.
He said the Minister at the time the concerns were raised, Trevor
Mallard, put out a discussion paper about the issue. He says the
nature of that paper was to say mining is a hazardous industry and
it has the potential for "catastrophic incidents".
Goff says he is not sure what happened to that document since
June 2008.
He says the focus for now is on the rescue of the trapped
miners.
7:30am: Police say the first robot has now stopped again.
7:25am: The first robot has made the 1000m mark inside the mine.
7:20am: Police say the Hercules with the Australian robot will arrive at Hokitika Airport at 7.45am.
7:00am: A robot which broke down when sent into the mine yesterday has been restarted and has moved further into the mine. A second army robot is also believed to be making its way up the tunnel.
6:55am: Breakfast has spoken to US air quality
expert Dr David Penney about the conditions the miners are most
likely facing in the Pike River mine.
He says one of the biggest dangers after a blast involving methane
is the resulting carbon monoxide.
6:45am: Grey District mayor Tony Kokshoorn has
told TV ONE's Breakfast he is disappointed at the reports the
bore-hole drilling is still not complete at the mine.
However, he says he is pinning more of his hopes on the new robots
being sent to the mine. He says families and friends of the trapped
miners are becoming much more subdued.
"We know we're losing hope now. We just want someone to tell us if the miners are dead or alive."
6:20am: The Commission of Inquiry which Prime Minister John Key has tipped to examine the Pike River explosion could take a wider view to look at the safety of miners underground in general, and not just the specific cause of the huge methane blast last Friday, says a mining industry union leader.
"The focus has to primarily on what happened at Pike River,"
Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) national
secretary Andrew Little told NZPA.
Little said the inquiry could look at how Pike River's operations
measured up to current industry standards, and whether those
standards were adequate.
6:05am: The rescue operation is continuing slowly as another night passes.
ONE News reporter Charlotte Bellis is at the police cordon near the mine entrance. She says it has been a very quiet morning so far.
5:29am: The drilling of the vital bore-hole should have been completed by now, but police are giving no update on progress until they brief the families of the trapped men at 8am.
5:15am: It is hoped the waterproof Australian robot arriving in the country today can get straight to work at the Pike River mine.
4:50am: The robot sent from Australia is expected to arrive in Greymouth today.
4:45am: Auckland's St Matthew-in-the-City church is holding a special vigil for the trapped miners today. Reverend Ann Mellor said the church will be open from 10am for people who want to light a candle or take time out to pray for the miners.
Click here to read yesterday's updates as they happened.
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Add a Comment:
Post new commenttit4tat said on 2010-12-03 @ 18:25 NZDT: Report abusive post
condolences to the families, concern about the industry that allowed these men to work in unsafe conditions, mines are dangerous thats true but none can put their hands on their hearts and claim they have gone above and beyond what is lawfully required of them to ensure their "mates" safety. Glenn Grindly could lead the way by ensuring his mine workers and his local community are 110% protected people b4 profit yeah right!!!
tropicalkiwi said on 2010-12-02 @ 23:35 NZDT: Report abusive post
To the families of the miners, my condolences. My thoughts have been with over the last 13 days, I have shed tears for your loss and hope that the support you have been shown in some small way helps. You will remain in my thoughts.
james q said on 2010-12-02 @ 17:17 NZDT: Report abusive post
Tragedy has brought Australia & New Zealand together yet again. My thought are with the West Coasters in NZ from the west coast of Australia.
wellthatsafinemess said on 2010-12-02 @ 13:50 NZDT: Report abusive post
when your here your here when your gone your gone there is nothing to be said there is nothing can be done and when the bell tolls your on the final run to your maker you may fly upon wings of mercy sigh forever you will be in our hearts & our minds eye Rest in Peace Gentlemen.
turret said on 2010-12-02 @ 13:27 NZDT: Report abusive post
to hear your voice,to see you smile to sit and talk to you a while to be together the same old way that would be our greatest wish wish today.....to hear you laugh,to hear you cry on just a chance,to say goodbye to say the things we didn't say that would be our greatest wish today But all we can dois throw flowers on the water look fo the sun through the rain Lay a little flower gentle on the water Remember how we loved you to comb you hair,to lace your boots buy some beer ,let you choose .