GREYMOUTH, New Zealand, (Reuters) – A pall of gloom hung over this small New Zealand town yesterday as the government promised an independent inquiry to try to answer what caused the country’s worst mining disaster in nearly 70 years.
Flags flew at half mast under grey skies in Greymouth on the rugged west coast of the South Island in memory of the 29 miners trapped nearly a week ago, who police said would not have survived a second explosion in the Pike River Coal mine on Wednesday.
“The country is unified in its grief and hopefully it will give some comfort to the families that have been left behind,” Prime Minister John Key told Radio New Zealand, adding that an independent inquiry would be held in addition to probes by the Police, the Labour Department and Pike River Coal
“We need answers to what happened at Pike River. We owe it to those families,” he said.
The 29 miners were trapped in the 2.3 km (1.4 mile) main tunnel last Friday night when methane gas caused a massive explosion in the mountain. Two other miners working away from the coal face narrowly escaped and walked out of the mine.
On Wednesday, rescue teams had been readying to enter the mine and were reviewing deadly gas levels which had stopped them entering the mine, when the second gas explosion occurred.
