Brendon Palmer

Brendon Palmer. Photo / Supplied

Visit our page of remembrance for all the miners here.

Brendon John Palmer, 27, was a second generation miner - his father Marty also works at the Pike River Mine.

About eight years ago, Brendon's sister Christine, 18, died in a car accident on the West Coast.

Mr Palmer snr said earlier this week that the thought of losing a second child was almost too hard to bear.

"It's hard to go through all this again," he said.

"We are just trying to be strong and hope for an outcome. I've lived [on the West Coast] all my life and it is the people that get you through."

Mr Palmer said he was also struggling with the fact that the rest of the miners were colleagues and friends.

He dismissed reports that he had passed Brendon walking into the mine as he was finishing his shift on Friday. The explosion occurred later that day.

Mr Palmer said Brendon had had his share of troubles while "enjoying life" in the past, but had turned his life around and was "going good".

Brendon had a 5-year-old daughter named Heidi and had been working in the Pike River mine for a couple of months as a trainee miner, after farming for most of his working life.

"He loved it. He thought he was going to go places," Mr Palmer said.