The Pike River Mine disaster was a coal mining accident that began on 19 November 2010 in the Pike River Mine, 46 kilometres (29 mi) northeast of Greymouth, in the West Coast Region of New Zealand's South Island. A methane explosion occurred in the mine at approximately 3:44 pm (NZDT, UTC+13). At the time of the explosion 31 miners and contractors were present in the mine. Two miners managed to walk from the mine; they were treated for moderate injuries and released from Greymouth Hospital the next day. The remaining 16 miners and 13 contractors,[2] often referred to as the twenty-nine,[3] were believed to be at least 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) from the mine's entrance.
Following a second explosion on 24 November at 2:37 pm, the 29 remaining men were believed by police to be dead.[5] PoliceSuperintendent Gary Knowles, officer in command of the rescue operation (Operation Pike) said he believed that "based on that explosion, no one survived."[6] A third explosion occurred at 3:39 pm on 26 November 2010,[7] and a fourth explosion occurred just before 2 pm on 28 November 2010.[8] According to the new mine owner, Solid Energy, the bodies of the 29 miners who died there may never be recovered.[9]
The Pike River Mine incident ranks as New Zealand's worst mining disaster since 43 men died at Ralph's Mine in Huntly in 1914. It also resulted in the country's worst loss of life caused by a single disaster since the 1979 crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901, although this was surpassed four months later by the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
In December 2012, Prime Minister John Key said he would apologise in person to the families of the deceased, for the Government's weak regulations and inadequate inspection regime.
THROWBACKTHISDAY; makes it 5 years and TBT Blog remembers the victims.
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