SYDNEY - New Zealand's first mining disaster in more than 40 years has left 27 miners missing and prompted concern that ventilation underground may have been compromised. Two miners were able to walk to the surface.
"Air quality testing is being carried out because of the unknown atmospheric conditions underground," police said in a statement. Rescue teams and emergency services remain at the site of the explosion yesterday at the Pike River Coal mine, they said.
The coking-coal mine is located about 48 km (30 miles) northeast of Greymouth on the South Island's west coast. There has been no communication with the missing miners since the blast occurred at about 4pm local time.
It was not known if they were trapped or sheltering, said Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Whittall.
The two miners who escaped said three colleagues were on their way to the surface, police had said in an earlier statement. A report of five miners having emerged could not be confirmed.
New Zealand's last mining disaster occurred in 1967, when 19 people died in an explosion at the Strongman coal mine, also near Greymouth. Mining incidents are more common in developing countries such as China where, for example, a gas blast rocked a mine in Henan province on October 16th, killing 37. In Chile, 33 men were rescued from a copper and gold mine last month following the world's longest mine rescue.
There were no indications of "heightened risk" at the Pike River mine before the incident, according to Andrew Little, national secretary of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, which represents 71 of about 140 workers at the site.
"It's only been in production for a year or so," Mr Little said. "They delayed production because they weren't satisfied that the ventilation system was right, so they've been pretty careful about that."
Pike River is part-owned by India's Gujarat NRE Coke and Saurashtra Fuels, which takes some of its low-ash, low-phosphorus coking coal, used by steelmakers. The mine is forecast to produce 320,000 to 360,000 tonnes of coal in the year through June, the company said on October 19th.
China, the world's largest coal producer and consumer, has the worst mine safety record, with an average of seven deaths a day in incidents last year. On October 25th, Chilean mining minister Laurence Golborne said the government would probably announce changes to health and safety rules by the end of this month.
About 6,000 people are employed in mining in New Zealand, the government says. - ( Washington Postservice-Bloomberg)