The father of New Zealand mine blast victim Malcolm Campbell says his family are preparing for the “long haul” after a new possibility emerged that the bodies of the tragic miners could be recovered.
Malcolm, 25, from St Andrews, and Pete Rodger, 40, from Perth, died when a series of underground explosions ripped through the Pike River coal mine in November 2010.
It has now been confirmed that the New Zealand government has authorised search teams to enter the mine where 29 miners were killed.
The operation, expected to begin later in the year, will cost an estimated £3.6m and take at least six months.
Teams will try to access the main tunnel leading up to a rock fall. But the government said the chances of recovering the bodies of those who died remained slim.
Mr Campbell, who took part in a tele-conference with the New Zealand authorities on Monday night, told The Courier the plan to go back into the drift had been approved and engineers were confident they would get as far as the rockfall.
But he said this could take from six months to a year and it will be treated as a crime scene pending further potential criminal prosecutions against the mine’s owners and management.
He added: “It’s a dilemma for the family because we said our farewells to Malcolm and accepted that he’d be staying in there.
“But the experts don’t want the boys to be left in there because it’s a hellhole. It’s been a rollercoaster that never ends for my wife and I, and here it is again. But all we’ve ever asked is that they try their best.”
Mr Campbell thanked the media and everyone who had supported the family, adding: “We will get closure on this.”
The blast, on the west coast of the South Island, was one of the nation’s worst mining disasters. An investigation found the incident was caused by a methane gas explosion.
“This is a highly complex and technical operation and it will be carefully managed in stages,” said Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges.
The government could not speculate on re-entering the main mine until the tunnel re-entry had been successfully achieved, he added. The bodies of those who died are thought to be behind the rock fall area, which experts believe remains highly unstable.
“The chances of that (recovering remains) prior to and up to the rock fall are slim,” Mr Bridges told a news conference.
Pike River Coal has been ordered to pay NZ$110,000 to each victim’s family and to two men who survived the disaster. In April the company was found guilty of multiple health and safety violations. Its former chief executive, Peter Whittall, faces a separate trial.