[TheList] Pike River coal mine explosion

Sun Nov 21 16:28:12 AEDT 2010

One of those extremely lucky guys was blown 1500m down the incline from 
his machine! Amazing he managed to climb the 110m vertical ventilation 
shaft to get out.

No mention of refuge chambers in the media or anywhere so I have to 
assume there were none. Even then, most refuge chambers are only 
designed to support them for 96 hours.

The portable breathing gear holds out 30 to 45 minutes (yes I have used 
one when being inducted at another mine and I am familiar with that mine).

I wish them well, but sadly I must concede I now hold grave fears for 
the well-being of those in the mine.

As for the mine rescue guys, I doubt the Police would stop them if they 
considered it safe. I expect the Police are just taking it on the chin 
under the circumstances.

I understand names are only being released at this stage either by the 
families themselves, friends of family unwittingly or by the police with 
the families permission.

Lets hope there are some happy endings for at least some if not all of 
the families.

Neill.

On 21/11/2010 5:47 p.m., kiwi56 wrote:
> what a load of bull.
> I think the police and the rescue teams have more idea than any of us 
> of what is happening as far as whether or not it is safe to send a 
> rescue team in.
> Would you take the responsibility of sending people in there and then 
> having them die because it was not safe to do so. They have some of 
> the best mining experts in the world there from aussie and the states.
> This is a coal mine very different to any other mine and they have to 
> be absolutely positive that they are not endangering anyone else when 
> they do decide to send them in.
>
> It is just like that father that said he would go in there no matter 
> what. More fool him considering he is not a miner and has never worked 
> in the mines. Admittedly his son is a contractor who is trapped in 
> there but at the end of the day with all the gases down there they 
> have to make sure that it is absolutely safe both for the rescuers and 
> the trapped men before they send any one down the mine.
>
> I don't think they are actually breaching any part of the act as at 
> the end of the day the police are the authority in charge of this 
> incident and they have overall control and I am sure they will arrest 
> anyone who tried to go in there without permission plus they could 
> also do them for tresspass if they were in there without permission of 
> the mining company.
>
> At the end of the day I would not hold out much hope of the men being 
> bought out alive considering there has been an explosion and there is 
> methane gas and carbon dioxide down there as their sir supply that 
> they carry only lasts around 20 minutes.
>
> The guys that got out were actually lucky because they were not as far 
> down the mine as the rest of them.
>
>
>
>
> On 11/21/2010 4:04 PM, Mark Robinson wrote:
>> Crimes Act 
>
>> 204 Impeding rescue
>>        (1) Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not 
>> exceeding 10 years who, without lawful justification or excuse, 
>> prevents or impedes or attempts to prevent or impede any person who 
>> is attempting to save his own life or the life of any other person.
>>        (2) No one is guilty of an offence against this section who 
>> does any such act as aforesaid in the course of saving his own life 
>> or the life of any other person.
>>
>> The Police need proof that a rescuer would die in order to prevent a 
>> rescue attempt being made. The assertion that they might be in danger 
>> is insufficient.
>>
>> They appear to be breaching other similar provisions on the act as well.
>>
> As for the mayor of Grey I think he should keep his mouth shut as far 
> as saying they should be releasing the names of those trapped although 
> they have released 12 names so far but at the end of the day like Gary 
> Knowles said if you lived overseas and had a relation working in the 
> mine you would not want to find out through the media before you were 
> told by the authorities it is no difference to when a person is killed 
> they have to advise next of kin before releasing names to the media. 
> The mayor is just stirring things up.
> As for the media man some of them are absolute idiots with some of the 
> questions they ask. such as how would the men that are trapped be 
> feeling? duh who would know other than the men themselves none would 
> unless they had been in the same situation.
>
>> _______________________________________________
>> TheList mailing list
>> TheList at radiowiki.org.nz
>> http://radiowiki.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/thelist_radiowiki.org.nz
>>
>>
>> -----
>> No virus found in this message.
>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>> Version: 10.0.1153 / Virus Database: 424/3268 - Release Date: 11/20/10
>>
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TheList mailing list
> TheList at radiowiki.org.nz
> http://radiowiki.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/thelist_radiowiki.org.nz
>