Hopes are growing that bodies may soon be recovered from the New Zealand mine where two Scots were killed eight years ago.
Truckloads of equipment have arrived at Pike River mine and re-entry could take place before the end of the year.
Malcolm Campbell, 25, of St Andrews, and Pete Rodger, 40, of Perth, were among 29 workers who perished in explosions in the South Island mine in November 2010.
Malcolm’s parents Malcolm and Jane are being given daily updates on progress and say there is a chance they may soon be able to bring home their son’s body.
A decision will be taken early next month by New Zealand’s Pike River recovery minister Andrew Little on re-entry to the tunnel, known as the drift.
Jane said: “I just want to know if we are going to get Malcolm home or not.
“If they find any bodies in the drift, we hope it will be Malcolm so we can get him home.”
However, she said if his body was found it would mean that he had survived the initial blast and had been killed by the second explosion five days later as rescuers still hoped to reach the miners.
“If he is there I know he will have lived after the first blast and I don’t know how I will feel,” she said.
Pike River families have endured an agonising wait to learn if the bodies of their loved ones will be brought out.
The previous government deemed it unsafe for people to enter the mine due to high levels of methane but the present coalition government pledged an operation to attempt recovery.
Jane said: “They should have done this years ago, it’s now coming up to eight years.
“The experts at the beginning said they could do it but the idea was pooh-poohed.”
Despite police and expert opinion that bodies were likely to have been incinerated in the blast, video footage from inside the mine is said to show a fully clothed miner lying on the ground.
Jane said: “If his body is intact I just want to bring him home. He has nobody out there.
“I do want to see him as well. For quite a long time I didn’t believe he was dead.
“Eight years down the line and it’s still like it happened yesterday.”
However, she said it was more likely Malcolm’s body was further into the mine, where the men were working at the time of the first explosion, in an area believed to be blocked by rockfall.
She said: “If he is where they say he is there’s a chance we will never get him unless they go into the mine proper and that’s a big ask.”
The cause of the explosion has yet to be established and it is also intended that evidence will be collected during the re-entry, with criminal charges possible.
Pike River Recovery Agency has decided on its preferred method, which involves removing methane then pumping out nitrogen to make the tunnel safe for a team to go in.
