The remains of two more men killed in the Pike River mine tragedy, one of New Zealand’s worst mining disasters, have been found more than a decade after the disaster.
The blast in November 2010 killed 29 workers and many of the families have been fighting to have the remains of their loved ones found ever since.
The mining tragedy – New Zealand’s worst in 100 years – resonated around the world: among the men who died were 24 New Zealanders, two Australians, two British citizens and one South African.
Police informed relatives of the victims on Tuesday that imaging work from a two-year borehole drilling investigation, which has now come to an end, had captured evidence of further human remains. Detective superintendent Peter Read, who is in charge of the investigation, said the images had been reviewed by pathologists who confirmed two sets of remains.
The first from the disaster were found in early 2011, using a Lidar scanning machine. In November 2021, just days before the 11th anniversary of the disaster, the police informed families that another two, possibly three, sets of remains had been discovered through borehole imaging. A total of eight have been identified in the mine.
Detective superintendent Read said the most recent imagery was significant, but left many unanswered questions.
“As I’ve noted previously, the search for answers over the last 11 years has been a long and painful journey for the families of the 29 men lost at the mine.”’
“The drilling operation has provided police with valuable information to inform our investigation into the underground activity that led to the first explosion,” he said.
Anna Osborne, whose husband, Milton, was killed in the mine, told RNZ the news was difficult to hear, but not surprising.
“I am looking at it myself as a comfort, knowing that they didn’t suffer for very long at all after the first explosion, if not instantaneously, they died.”
Police are still conducting a criminal investigation into the mine explosion. A royal commission in 2012 found safety warnings were ignored at the site, and that government regulators had failed to inspect it effectively. No individual has ever been successfully prosecuted over the disaster.
New Zealand’s government had spent more than NZ$50m (£26m) on exploring the access tunnel in an attempt to find the remains. In 2021, the government announced it would stop funding that mission, but continue to support the police inquiry.
