Recovery agency reaches roof fall at top of mine tunnel
The Pike River Recovery Agency has reached the roof fall located
2.26 kilometres up the mine’s access tunnel, marking the end point of its journey and ending hopes of recovering any bodies.
The roof fall was the furthest point the agency planned to go into the West Coast mine, where
29 men died in November 2010. There had been a small possibility of finding some bodies in the previously unexplored
400-metre section at the top of the access tunnel, or drift.
Agency chief operating officer
Dinghy Pattinson said the team finished the last of its forensic work in front of the roof fall about 11.30am on Tuesday.
Pike River families described the milestone as ‘‘bittersweet’’.
Anna Osborne, whose husband Milton died in the mine disaster, said the end of the drift recovery process left her with mixed emotions. ‘‘I am incredibly proud that we have got this far and so thankful that the people of New Zealand have backed us getting this done and gathering the evidence that is crucial to getting justice for our boys.
‘‘But it is also hard to know that this is as far as we will go and that Milt is still in there.
‘‘I think every family member will be feeling that same mixture of pride and sadness,’’ she said.
Rowdy Durbridge worked at Pike and lost his son, Dan Herk, in the explosion. He said coming to the end of the drift was hard.
‘‘Let’s face it, we did not get what we want in our hearts – to get our boys back – but we knew that was not likely when we started. The next best thing for me is getting some justice for Dan and the fellas down there, and I think they would be proud that we have got to that.’’
The agency would now turn its attention to the detailed forensic work in the Pit Bottom in Stone area, which was required for the police investigation, Pattinson said. Pit Bottom in Stone is a 600-metre network of roadways about 1900m up the drift that holds vital electrical equipment that could provide data to explain the cause of the explosions.
Police were still investigating any criminal culpability with the help of the $50 million government-funded recovery agency.
Mementoes from families of the Pike 29 had been placed into the Rocsil plug facing the roof fall, along with a letter from the agency to the men.
‘‘We promised that work would continue on finding out what happened on November 19, 2010. And we said goodbye,’’ Pattinson said.
‘‘The boys and I feel pretty good to have now got as far as we can in the drift. That job has been done and it has been done safely.’’