The former CEO of Pike River Coal has been criticised for refusing to appear at the Greymouth District Council hearings into the deaths of 29 miners in November last year. Gordon Ward was the chief executive until seven weeks before the final blast..

The stoic spokesman for the families of the Pike River dead cannot stop grieving for the son he lost a year ago today.

The father of one of the Pike River victims has stood up for a mine inspector being 'hammered' at the inquiry into the disaster.