Veteran newsman dies at mine

Veteran Nine Network reporter Richard Carleton died after suffering a suspected heart attack at Tasmania's Beaconsfield Gold Mine yesterday.

"He has died," Tasmanian police Constable Phil Pike told AAP.

Nine presenter Mike Munro confirmed the death during a televised news update.

"He was given treatment on the spot and taken to hospital," a visibly shaken Munro said. "He was taken to hospital, as you can see, where doctors have only just pronounced him dead.

"Our friend and colleague, Richard Carleton, from 60 Minutes, dead."

Carleton, who rose to fame as an aggressive and often abrasive reporter on state-owned ABC television before switching to the Nine Network's 60 Minutes current affairs show, segments of which screened in New Zealand, was working on a story about the Beaconsfield mine collapse.

Mine management and safety practices are coming under increasing scrutiny, and Carleton was ready with a question when manager Matthew Gill fronted the media yesterday.

"Mr Gill, on the 26th of October last year, not 10m from where these men are now entombed, you had a 400-tonne rock fall," he said.

"Why is it - is it the strength of the seam or the wealth of the seam - that you continue to send men in to work in such a dangerous environment?"

Carleton turned red and walked quickly away after Mr Gill replied: "No, unfortunately my focus is on recovering these two chaps. That has been my only focus. In terms of what happened and why, that will come later."

As Mr Gill continued with other questions, Carleton collapsed.

Colleagues, police and paramedics rushed to help him, applying CPR and calling: "Stay with us, Richard. Richard, stay with us."

Others used jackets and blankets to screen the emergency from view as a battery of photographers, television cameramen and reporters waited for the ambulance to arrive. As it moved off, one of Carleton's colleagues said: "No, he's gone. He's gone."