Focus 'solidarity' after Pike River tragedy

Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn hugs a police officer as distraught family members leave after being told of the second blast. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The focus on the West Coast will be solidarity now that the 29 Pike River miners have been pronounced dead, Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn says.

Mayor Kokshoorn told Radio New Zealand everyone would help those affected by the tragedy

"The focus is just solidarity now. All coming together as Coasters," he said.

"People find just that extra little bit, they take a deep breath, they will raise the bar and they make sure they just go the extra mile for those who have lost loved ones.

"They will rally, Coasters will come home and we will make it as easy as we can for the families," Mayor Kokshoorn said.

He said people on the West Coast had experienced tragedy before and would come through, but that the bodies needed to recovered from the mine.

"These people won't have closure - they won't feel good - until they are holding their loved ones again."

Police operation

Assistant Commissioner Grant Nicholls told Radio New Zealand the first step now would be to make the mine as safe as possible so the miners' bodies could be recovered.

"We'll be discussing the recovery phase with a variety of experts."

He said the majority of the experts were already on the ground.

Asked what the timeframe was for the recovery of the men's bodies he said: "As quickly and as safely as possible is the timeframe."

Mr Nicholls said that hundreds of police had been involved in the Pike River operation, with officers called in from all over the country.

Police had also been liaising with colleagues in the United States and Australia.

Mr Nicholls said Tasman police district commander Gary Knowles was a "very experienced and competent officer" who had been absolutely committed to bringing the miners home alive "as quickly and safely as possible".

"This has just been an absolutely heart-wrenching operation. It's been a very difficult and challenging time," Mr Nicholls said.

"I've worked with Gary, I've got absolute faith in him."

"I think that the operation has been run particularly well. Every available opportunity that could be taken was taken."

"We were well informed and the operation went well. It was unfortunate that we weren't' able to bring these people out alive."

Pike River pledges co-operation

Pike River chairman John Dow told Radio New Zealand the company would be meeting later today with the families of the miners to see what help they needed.

"We've got a meeting with the families at noon today and we'll be talking to them about what they want," he said.

"Needs are different now, focus is different now."

He pledged full co-operation with any inquiries, saying the truth needed to be established.

"No question there'll be inquiries of some sort and obviously we welcome that," he said.

"We've pledged ourselves to be open and transparent."

"After we've helped the families... then the next priority is to make the mine safe as soon as we can and that's so that we can go in and recover the bodies and bring our boys home."

He said he would not be drawn into speculation over whether the mine would go into operation again.

Mining Minister Gerry Brownlee told Radio New Zealand the police inquiry was effectively already under way.

"Their focus really at this stage really is on recovery," he said

"Gary Knowles and his team really have not stood down in any way."

Key: We need to learn what went wrong

Prime Minister John Key told Morning Report the Commission of Inquiry as well as inquiries by the police, Chief Coroner and Ministry of Labour would establish what went wrong.

"We need to learn, what went wrong, why and what can be done in future to ensure we don't have a repeat of Pike River," he said.

Mr Key said long after media attention had shifted elsewhere those affected by the disaster would be left mourning.

"They will be left with this gaping void which is that their loved ones are no longer with them."

He said it was important he went to Greymouth today.

"I want to go and talk to the families and give them as much support as I possibly can."

Mr Key said he also wanted to thank all of the people involved in the rescue operation who had "worked tirelessly from the moment that the first explosion took place".

He said the Pike River operation had been challenging because from the first blast rescue conditions were never possible.

"It was just the reality of the situation that a mine in this condition is a highly volatile environment."

- NZ HERALD STAFF