27 miners missing after New Zealand explosion
By the CNN Wire Staff
November 19, 2010 -- Updated 0829 GMT (1629 HKT)
(CNN) -- Twenty-seven miners were missing hours after an underground explosion on New Zealand's west coast, company officials said Friday.
Two other miners had emerged from the the Pike River coal mine in Atarau, authorities said.
About three hours after the blast, police said no fatalities had been reported. Emergency workers were going into the mine, TV New Zealand said.
The two miners who had surfaced arrived at the Grey Base Hospital, an hour away, with non-life-threatening injuries, TV New Zealand said. They had moderate blast injuries, with one being treated in the emergency room and the other in a ward.
Emergency crews had interviewed the two miners, trying to determine what happened. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known, police said.
According to early accounts, an electrician went into the mine to investigate a power outage and discovered a driver who had been blown off his loader about 1,500 meters [0.9 mile] into the mine shaft.
A special mine rescue team was among the many emergency workers on the scene.
Communications underground were "terminated" when the explosion happened, Pike River CEO Peter Whittall said.
The entrance to the mine is about 2.2 kilometers along and then branches out, police said. The power outage might have compromised ventilation inside the mine.
Smoke hung outside the mine, trees were charred and a hut had been blown off a hill, TV New Zealand said.
There are two routes out of the mine, Whittall said. Unlike the Chilean mine where 33 miners were rescued in mid-October, the Pike River mine has steep terrain, and the shafts run horizontally into the hill, not vertically into the ground, he told TV New Zealand.
The remote mine is about 50 kilometers [31 miles] northeast of Greymouth, police said.
By the CNN Wire Staff
November 19, 2010 -- Updated 0829 GMT (1629 HKT)
(CNN) -- Twenty-seven miners were missing hours after an underground explosion on New Zealand's west coast, company officials said Friday.
Two other miners had emerged from the the Pike River coal mine in Atarau, authorities said.
About three hours after the blast, police said no fatalities had been reported. Emergency workers were going into the mine, TV New Zealand said.
The two miners who had surfaced arrived at the Grey Base Hospital, an hour away, with non-life-threatening injuries, TV New Zealand said. They had moderate blast injuries, with one being treated in the emergency room and the other in a ward.
Emergency crews had interviewed the two miners, trying to determine what happened. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known, police said.
According to early accounts, an electrician went into the mine to investigate a power outage and discovered a driver who had been blown off his loader about 1,500 meters [0.9 mile] into the mine shaft.
A special mine rescue team was among the many emergency workers on the scene.
Communications underground were "terminated" when the explosion happened, Pike River CEO Peter Whittall said.
The entrance to the mine is about 2.2 kilometers along and then branches out, police said. The power outage might have compromised ventilation inside the mine.
Smoke hung outside the mine, trees were charred and a hut had been blown off a hill, TV New Zealand said.
There are two routes out of the mine, Whittall said. Unlike the Chilean mine where 33 miners were rescued in mid-October, the Pike River mine has steep terrain, and the shafts run horizontally into the hill, not vertically into the ground, he told TV New Zealand.
The remote mine is about 50 kilometers [31 miles] northeast of Greymouth, police said.
