29 dead in 2nd NZ mine blast
New Zealand, Nov. 24: All 29 men missing in a New Zealand coal mine have died after a powerful second blast tore through the pit, authorities said on Wednesday, plunging the country into mourning.
Police said there was now no chance of finding anyone alive, confirming the country’s worst mining accident in nearly a century. The Prime Minister, Mr John Key, called it a “national tragedy” and said flags would fly at half-mast.
“Where this morning we held on to hope, we must now make way for sorrow,” Mr Key said. “Today, all New Zealanders grieve for these men. We are a nation in mourning.”
The police superintendent, Mr Gary Knowles, who led rescue efforts, said he was at the mountainside Pike River mine when the sickening second explosion hit at 2:37 pm (0137 GMT), five days after Friday’s initial blast.
“There was another explosion at the mine. It was extremely severe,” he said.
“Based on expert evidence I have been given it is our belief that no one has survived.”
The news prompted anguish and anger among kin, who had suffered an agonising wait for a rescue that never came as toxic gases stopped teams from entering the mine in New Zealand’s South Island.
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