We knew colleagues were dead - Miner

The Pike River mine. Photo / Simon Baker

West Coast miners knew their 29 mates at Pike River were a lost cause before the official announcement on Wednesday, a union convener in Solid Energy's nearby Spring Creek pit says.

Pessimism was based on gas readings showing alarming levels of toxicity and the likelihood of further explosions, as the mine remained on fire, said Trevor Balderson, a night-shift development worker who heads a crew of six at Spring Creek, 40km from Pike River.

"The initial explosion wiped out all the infrastructure," said Mr Balderson, who moved to the West Coast in 2008, after a Yorkshire colliery closed in 2002.

"If you talk to any coal mine workers anywhere in the world, the reality is that you do not survive an explosion if you are in the firing line," he told the Yorkshire Evening Post newspaper.

Scientists had estimated the fireball which ripped through the mine last Friday probably reached temperatures higher the 1200degC. A second explosion two days ago was said to be even bigger.

Pike River workers received more information about what was going on in the rescue attempt from their union than they did from their employer, Mr Balderson said.

"Our involvement is to keep them as informed as possible, to have a voice about the questions which are coming up," he said.

"Why did the power go off? Why weren't the men withdrawn? These are the penetrating questions which will come out in the aftermath."

Mr Balderson said New Zealand's underground mines were small by British standards - about 170 men at Spring Creek, and formerly 150 men at Pike River - and he knew every one of the 29 victims.

- NZPA