At least two bodies found at Pike River mine; families 'angry, gutted'

Andrew Little has described the discovery of bodies inside Pike River, 11 years after explosions tore through the West Coast mine, killing 29 men, as "significant" - but said it is unlikely they will be removed.

Little, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry, said while there was a small chance of finding human remains, police wanted to gain access to new areas of the mine.

He was notified about the find this morning and said he took a moment to reflect.

"You certainly take a moment to reflect, the families have been carrying this for some significant time, not just the disaster itself and the loss of their loved ones."

"I know some families would like to go further but that won't be possible," Little told media on Wednesday afternoon.

He said families may get some more certainty around what happened on the day of the accident.

Pike River Re-entry Minister Andrew Little indicates where the miner remains were discovered on a map of the mine. Photo / Mark Mitchell

"There will be mixed emotions I think the fact that something tangible has been observed that means that we might just get a little more certainty on what exactly happened on the night of November 10."

While he does not reject the decision to seal the mine, Little said "you do wonder why it ever happened".

"Trying other forms of recovery are just so far-fetched," Little said.

Detective Superintendent Peter Read at today's press conference in Christchurch. Photo / George Heard

He confirmed the Pike River agency is at the end of its budget and said advice from police and the agency point towards a recovery being "impossible".

Currently, there is no consideration to unseal the mine.

Little acknowledged how hard this news must be for the families of those lost in the mine but says he would like them to have a few days the digest the news.

In 2017 a commitment was made to recover the drift as it was very possible, Little said. However, he said there was risk.

"We didn't know the full scale of the picture. We needed advice," Little said.

Working alongside police, Little said they drilled a number of new boreholes which is how they found the remains today.

A criminal investigation is still being completed by police.

Little said it was important for families who had promises made.

"We did what we could," he said.

Little said there was a possibility of human remains in the drift and it was important for the agency to take that step.

Police have taken their investigation "seriously", he said, and families can be assured the Government and police are doing everything they can.

Looking forward, Little said he will be speaking with family representatives over the next few days and will seek advice from officials.

'Very, very clear images'

Speaking at a press conference in Christchurch earlier today, Detective Superintendent Peter Read said police had notified the 29 victims' families that they had recovered some images from boreholes which revealed "two bodies with the possibility of a third".

The bodies are in the "furthest part of the mine from the entrance", which means police will not be able to recover them.

The "very, very clear" images have been reviewed by a pathologist.

While police know who the six or eight men were in that area, they have not yet identified the remains. They are continuing to work with forensic investigators.

Detective Superintendent Peter Read announced today that bodies had been found at Pike River. Photo / George Heard

The images would not be released publicly out of respect to the families and the investigation, police said.

Read said he had learned "quite a bit" from the imagery taken from the boreholes late last week.

He would not say whether the men appeared to have died in the first or second explosion, nor would he speculate on whether the find would help establish the cause of the initial explosion.

"Experts were poring over these images over the weekend ... we only got the confirmation this morning," Read said.

He said given it had been 11 years since the explosion, the condition of the bodies was "as you would expect".

The borehole would be reimaged, weather permitting, later this week, he said.

Over the last 11 years technology had improved significantly, and that - paired with current expert advice and the recovery of the drift - had enabled this development, he said.

"It's not unexpected, we know there's 29 men down there and we're drilling boreholes where we know people were working," he said.

"We still haven't finished the boreholes yet so there is a possibility there might be more [bodies found] - we can't rule that out."

Read would not be drawn on whether a prosecution was imminent, with the investigation ongoing.

The news comes just two days before the anniversary of the tragedy.

'I'm angry and gutted'

Bernie Monk, whose son Michael died in the mine, only found out about the discovery today and is furious at what he calls a cover-up.

Monk believes the Government, along with WorkSafe and police, have "let us down".

"I did my crying 10 years ago mate," he said.

"I'm angry and gutted that the government departments have done this to us, after all the work and expertise that we've put in place to help them.

"If we go right back, we were the ones who showed them the self-rescue boxes open; we were the ones who showed the bodies of the men in early 2011; we're the ones who brought in the expertise led by Tony Forster from overseas and Richard Healy and Dean Dunbar from New Zealand and told them everything about what happened at Pike River, and they've taken absolutely no notice of us."

Families have been "stabbed in the heart" by the news.

Monk said family members have been phoning him today in tears wondering if the remains were their loved ones.

"They're absolutely crucifying them," he said.

"Where is the transparency in all this? There's been none.

"This has been a complete cover-up. The government departments have just covered this up, hoping that we'd go away."

Rowdy Durbridge, whose son Dan was working in the area of the mine where remains have been identified, says that the discovery is a shock.

"You know the guys are down there but to know they have been seen, it hits you hard, eh," he said.

"We've fought hard for years now to get justice for our boys, and this is part of it happening.

"This is why we worked so hard to negotiate these boreholes and we'll be supporting the police in whatever way we can to take this further if it needs to happen."

Anna Osborne, whose husband Milton died in the disaster, says it's a hugely emotional day. Photo / NZME

Anna Osborne, whose husband Milton died in the disaster, said the families have seen images from the borehole project and others will see them at a presentation tonight.

"We can't talk about the details of what we've seen because we don't want to put any future prosecution at risk, but we can say that what we've seen is starting to give real clarity about what happened down there," she said.

"This is an incredibly emotional day for all of us."

Osborne told Newstalk ZB's Heather du Plessis-Allan they understood the bodies photographed are no longer intact.

She said police will be meeting with families tonight but believes no family members will see the images taken of the human remains as it will be evidence for police.

The Pike River Recovery Agency (PRRA) completed its $50 million re-entry of the mine's access tunnel to try and recover remains and find any forensic clues earlier this year.

It had been due to permanently seal the mine while police were part-way through their borehole investigations.

But some Pike River families who lost loved ones, and had fought for years to try and get authorities to try and find their bodies, launched legal action to try and stop it from happening.