The New Zealand mine where 29 miners are trapped was described Sunday as a “gun barrel” and two days after a gas explosion at the pit it remained too dangerous to send rescuers in.
A South African was trapped in the blast, along with two Australians, two Britons and 24 New Zealanders, aged between 17 and 62.
As the local community expressed frustration at the delay in mounting a rescue, New Zealand Mines Rescue chief Trevor Watts said the situation in the mine remained explosive and he could not deploy a search party.
“The areas of greatest concern to us are in an explosive atmosphere,” Watts said.
“We have to be absolutely certain that we are not putting our people into an explosive atmosphere because they are in direct travel of an explosion path.
“They are still in the gun barrel. You put a bullet in one end of the gun and it's going to come out the other end.”
The mayor of Grey District where the mine is located, Tony Kokshoorn, has spoken of the “bottom-line despair” as the tight-knit community continued to wait for word on the fate of the trapped men.
But Watts said the safety of the rescue personnel remained “paramount” even though they felt for the trapped miners, who included a member of his Mines Rescue team.
“We've got a Mines Rescue member missing amongst the guys that are underground and I can assure you that every Mines Rescue member that is working on this operation is waiting to go underground to rescue our brothers.
“The whole lot of them are our brothers.
“This is the West Coast, a small community, and we know all of these guys and if there is the slightest opportunity to go underground we will.” - Sapa-AFP