Post date: Nov 21, 2010 10:43:54 PM
Rescue operations yet to start in New Zealand mine where 29 men are still trapped.
GREYMOUTH, NEW ZEALAND (NOVEMBER 22, 2010) TVNZ - Rescue teams continued to drill a hole into a New Zealand coal mine on Sunday (November 22) where 29 men have been trapped for nearly three days as toxic gas delays the start of a rescue operation.
There has been no contact with the miners since an explosion ripped through the Pike River colliery on the rugged west coast of New Zealand's South Island on Friday afternoon, with authorities saying the gas level made it too dangerous to enter the mine.
"In conclusion, the situation still remains grave given we have not had contact for the men now for three days, every effort has been made to carry out the rescue and we will go from there. I hope to have more substantive information this afternoon, by late afternoon so that I can look at where we are going as far as the operation is concerned for the next 24 to 48 hours," Tasman District Commander Superintendent Gary Knowles, who is heading the operation, told media.
Progress was being made however, as drilling started on a 15 cm (six inch) ventilation shaft on a steep hillside above the mine on Sunday evening, having gone about 100 metres of the 162 metre estimated depth to the mine.
Once the shaft is drilled rescuers are hoping to lower a camera down to determine if the men are nearby, Pike River Coal Mine CEO Peter Whittall said.
"We got a number of opportunities once we can get the hole through provided it is in the right spot and it is everything we hope it will be, we have got opportunities to sample gas from that point, because at the moment we only have got one gas sampling point still, that will give us a second sampling point. We will have an opportunity to put laser imaging gear down the hole which can be used to gather a vast amount of data down to within centimeters sized of rocks sitting on the ground and will create a proper image of what is down there. Now depending on where the hole comes out in the road way, will depend on how far we can set-up the road way without imaging gear. We will also be able to put down video camera information and borehole cameras and look at anything we can see at the bottom of the hole."
An explosion of naturally occurring methane gas is thought to have caused the explosion. High levels of gas have been detected near mine ventilation shafts.
Authorities have said that it is possible that the miners have survived the blast and are in an area where the air is cleaner.
Tests on the air quality are being conducted every 30 minutes at the mine's shafts, but the toxic gas levels have been fluctuating. They needed to be falling to allow rescue teams to go in.
Families and friends of the trapped men have been briefed on the progress, and emotions in the small town of Greymouth, the closest to the mine site, are running high.
"We owe it to the men that are underground, that in undertaking the rescue we do so in a way that doesn't endanger lives any further," Prime Minister John Key said during the same news conference.
The trapped men range in age from 17 to 62 and include two Britons, two Australians and a South African. Two men escaped from the mine after the blast with moderate injuries.
The weather in the mountains in which the mine is situated was generally fine and sunny for the first time in several days.
The isolated mine has been dug about 2.3 km (1.4 miles) horizontally into a mountain range, with the trapped men believed to be most of the way inside. There are ventilation shafts climbing vertically at least 100 metres to the surface to provide fresh air, and a compressed air line is still being pumped in.
Thirty rescuers, including Australian experts, are ready to go, and it's been estimated that it would take them around two hours to walk over the uneven ground and through dark, smoke-filled tunnels.