Pike River: Bodies spotted 11 years after New Zealand mine disaster

bodies

At least two sets of human remains have been pictured deep inside a New Zealand coal mine, more than a decade after a series of explosions killed 29 men there. Cameras also picked up what may be a third body in a tunnel, police said. But they added that the hard-to-reach location meant there was no chance of recovering the remains. The Pike River mining disaster happened in November 2010 when two blasts ripped through the mine.

Only two of the 31 miners on shift were able to escape. None of the miners’ bodies have ever been recovered.In 2012, a Royal Commission found that the miners and contractors had been exposed to “unacceptable risk” in the South Island mine. It said there were “numerous warnings of a potential catastrophe at Pike River” but there have been no prosecutions since.(BBC)…[+]