Pike River: Relatives find some peace

Alana Herk, left, and Buffie Glengarry back in Greymouth after their visit to the Pike River coal mine. Photo / Mark Mitchell

On Wednesday, the families of Pike River miners and contractors reacted with fire and fury to news that a second explosion had removed any hope of their menfolk's survival.

Yesterday, the response was very different.

Nine busloads of relatives of the 29 men believed dead in the West Coast coal mine made the trip up into the Paparoa Ranges to the mine. It was, they said, a time of peace, a time of heartbreak.

"You're going up to such heartbreak in such a beautiful part of the world," said Brent Palmer, who lost his nephew Brendon in the explosion nine days ago.

The mums and dads, partners and children, sisters and brothers of the miners boarded the buses in Greytown, many carrying large bunches of flowers, one man holding a framed picture of his loved one. One woman collapsed in sorrow and had to be carried on to an ambulance.

More than 200 family members travelled up to the site. The name tags the men placed on a board were still at the mine; so too many of the men's cars.

"The tags to me are so poignant," Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn said. "In the coal mining industry, it has always been tradition that the tags stay there."

The group was not taken to the mine entrance or any area deemed dangerous. But Pike River Coal staff took their flowers and promised to place them as close to the mouth of the mine as possible.

Palmer described the mood of the families as "sombre" as they made the bus trip along the same route that the 29 men had travelled just over a week ago.

For many, there was a sense of closure.

Alana Herk, whose brother Daniel Herk was one of those killed underground, said she had found the site calming and going there helped her family accept Daniel's death.

She had travelled from New Plymouth with her mother, her baby and a family friend, Buffie Glengarry.

She expected the visit to be difficult, but arrived and found it made things easier.

Glengarry said: "I just felt it to be really peaceful up there. As tragic and as horrible as this disaster has been, it was peaceful. Other guys were saying the same thing."

She added: "I know it's not over but it's just another piece."

The mother of Zen Drew said she found the trip to the mine "very healing".

"I felt close to my boy," Leeza Verhoeven said. "I felt like I was able to say goodbye to him - just directly from me."

She was grateful for the community's support: "Zen didn't just make friends, he made family."

But Laurie Drew, Zen's father, said there was no point going to the mine site until they brought his son out.

A recovery operation to bring the bodies out is underway but authorities have said it could take weeks before toxic and explosive gases in the mine could be removed to allow a team to go inside.