Explosion evidence ‘compelling’
A former top cop says there is ‘‘compelling’’ evidence a conveyor belt was turned on moments before a second explosion at the Pike River mine.
The West Coast coal mine blew up for the second time on November 24, 2010, five days after the first explosion, ruling out any chance the 29 men inside were still alive.
Documents show police discussed using the conveyor belt before the explosion to help survivors escape, but said yesterday there was no information to show it was activated.
Former West Coast area commander Inspector John Canning told The Southland Times after reviewing video footage he now backed claims made by family members that the belt caused the explosion.
‘‘It appears to travel into the mine and there’s that clunk and the belt appears to go into the mine . . . if the explosion caused that, why is it going into the mine rather than going out?
‘‘When you couple that with the documentary evidence they’ve got about the belt and the decision leading up to it . . . it’s a fairly compelling argument, they were thinking about it.’’
Canning said an ex-colleague told him the belt had been turned on, but admitted the allegations were ‘‘hearsay’’ because the colleague was not part of the investigative team at the time.
Officers resisted turning on the belt initially because the first explosion occurred just after it was activated.
‘‘It could’ve been a short in the conveyor that caused the initial explosion so we were loathe to turn it on again.’’
A police spokeswoman said based on the information available at this stage police had found no information to suggest the conveyor was activated on November 24, prior to the second explosion.