Robot to enter New Zealand mine to take photos, test air
Associated Press
GREYMOUTH, New Zealand
Rescue officials were preparing today to send a high-tech robot into a mine tunnel to transmit pictures and assess toxic-gas levels three days after an explosion left 29 miners missing underground.
Police superintendent Gary Knowles, the rescue controller, said the New Zealand defense department had upgraded the robot so it would not create a spark and accidentally ignite a fresh explosion in the mine, near Atarau on South Island.
But they were still waiting for gas conditions to stabilize further before sending the robot in, Knowles said.
The dangerous gases and underground heat have kept rescue teams from entering the mine since the Friday afternoon blast, and there has been no communication with the 29 missing men.
Fresh air was being pumped down an open air line, but gas levels were still fluctuating wildly, authorities said.
“The situation remains grave, given we’ve had no contact from the men for more than three days,” Knowles told reporters today.
“We remain optimistic,” he said. “This is a search-and-rescue operation. We’re basically going to go in there and bring these guys out.”
The robot will be able to provide pictures and gas samples up to a mile into the mine’s main tunnel. Knowles said that would give rescuers an idea of how safe the route is and whether they can enter themselves.
Police have said the miners, age 17 to 62, are believed to be about 1.2 miles down the tunnel.
Each miner carried 30 minutes of oxygen, and more stored in the mine, along with food and water, could allow several days of survival.
The mine is entered through a 1.4-mile horizontal tunnel into the mountain, and the coal seam lies about 650 feet beneath the surface.
Experts also are drilling a 6-inch-wide shaft down from the surface to the mine tunnel to assess air quality and to lower listening devices. The drill was expected to break through the tunnel roof later today.
One of two workers who escaped from the mine described the explosion as “a shotgun blast, but much, much louder and more powerful.” Daniel Rockhouse, 24, was smashed into the mine wall before collapsing amid the smoky, swirling gas and dust.
When he came to, Rockhouse dragged himself upright and staggered to a nearby compressed-air line to breathe in fresh air and gain some strength.
“I got up, and there was thick, white smoke everywhere — worse than a fire. I knew straight away that it was carbon monoxide,” Rockhouse, whose brother Ben remains underground, told the New Zealand Herald newspaper in today’s edition.
“I couldn’t see anything, and it was dead quiet,” he said. “I yelled, ‘Help, somebody help me!’ But no one came. There was no one there.”
He eventually stumbled across the unconscious body of Russell Smith and dragged him until he awoke. The two men relied on the compressed-air line as they stumbled through the dark haze to finally reach the surface nearly two hours after the explosion.