The search for 17 people missing after a Korean fishing vessel sank in the Southern Ocean early today has been scaled down as it becomes increasingly unlikely further survivors will be found.

An Australian mine safety expert and a former senior NZ public servant have been named as Royal Commissioners in the Pike River mine tragedy inquiry.

Five people are dead and 17 missing after a Korean fishing vessel sank in the freezing waters of the Southern Ocean, 2700km south east of Bluff, early this morning.

Herald deputy business editor Grant Bradley, who has visited the Pike River mine and covered the company for the Business Herald, on why today's receivership move by Pike River was inevitable.

The second death in two years at a popular marine reserve has prompted calls for lifeguard patrols.

Police hope to cap the vent shaft at Pike River mine tomorrow after weather conditions at the site prevented the operation from going ahead today.

ACC's medical advisers are not being held properly accountable, a lawyer says.

The majority of miners remaining at Pike River Coal mine look set to lose their jobs, as officials today told workers they were going to proceed with redundancies three weeks after a series of explosions killed 29 workers inside the mine.

One of the men injured in an electrical explosion in west Auckland today is about to be discharged from hospital, while the other remains in hospital with minor burns to one of his hands.