Mine survivor thought it was all over

The survivor of last week's fatal accident at Tiller's mine in Runanga on the West Coast said goodbye to his family as he struggled in chest deep water in a freezing, flooded West Coast mine with his foot trapped under a boulder.

Gary Haddow told the Sunday Star Times said he fought for his life after trying to save his mate, 39-year-old Robert James McGowan.

Half-an-hour earlier, the two men had been standing next to each other underground, 40m from where an explosive charge was about to blast a hole into a coal-laden seam, the newspaper reported.

"The charge went off and straight away I heard the rushing of raging water," said Mr Haddow, 51. "I yelled 'Water, come on!"'

He immediately realised the blast had unleashed a flood from an old mine.

"My intention was for us to go up the gradient but Rob wasn't with me - he'd gone down," he said.

"I tried to grab him and went after him but he was already 5m in front of me and running. The water was behind me and coming fast, I still had my headlight and I saw him run around a corner and he was gone."

Mr Haddow clung to a steel peg hanging from the ceiling as a metre-deep torrent of water rushed beneath him.

He lost his grip after 20 minutes and fell into the water trapping his left leg under a big stone.

"I was fighting to get out, going under, and I was close to giving up. I said 'hooray' to people, I really thought it was all over."

Eventually he pulled his foot out of its boot and grabbed the peg again - hanging there for another 20 minutes.

He then clambered up the tunnel, inching his way above the diminishing water.

Eventually the water abated and he went looking for Mr McGowan.

"Yeah, I found him, checked him, but he was gone. I just sat with him and waited for mines rescue."

The Robert McGowan Family Trust has been established to support the family. Donations can be made at Westpac banks.

- NZPA