New Zealand PM Key attends Pike River coal mine memorial ceremony

[News_Editor]

New Zealand PM Key attends Pike River coal mine memorial ceremony

2010-12-02 23:59:43 GMT+7 (ICT)

GREYMOUTH, NEW ZEALAND (BNO NEW) — A memorial service was held in New Zealand in honor of the 29 miners who were killed in the Pike River coal mine, the nation's worst such disaster in nearly 100 years.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand were among the 11,000 mourners at Omoto Racecourse.

Key, whose father passed away when he was six, expressed encouraging words, emphasizing that no one should lose hope.

"Amongst all your other emotions and pain there may be fear for your children growing up without the father who loved them," Key said. "Because I was such a child, I know that the absence of a parent is a heaviness you learn to carry in your own way."

"It is a terrible thing to happen. But it doesn’t mean your children will not go on to live happy, worthwhile and fulfilling lives and, in time, experience joyfulness and love in new families, yet to be created," Key added. "And even if those children’s memories of their fathers fade, his legacy will live on in each one of them."

The 90-minute service, which was led by Reverend Tim Mora, also gathered Grey District mayor Tony Kokshoorn and Pike River mine boss Peter Whittall. The service began with a two minutes of silence, followed by a hymn from the Greymouth Combined Primary Schools' Choir. The ceremony also included a Maori Waiata, a traditional folk song.

The previous most notable mining disaster in New Zealand happened on January 19, 1967 when a gas explosion killed 19 miners at the Strongman Mine near Greymouth. The mine has since been replaced by another mine.

But a more deadlier accident happened on September 12, 1914 at Ralph's Mine in Huntly. About sixty people were working at the mine when an explosion happened, which was significantly less than the usual 250 miners who worked there.

It took about two weeks before all 43 bodies had been recovered from the mine, mostly because of dangerous gas inside. An investigation found that the blast was caused when the naked acetylene cap-lamp worn by a miner came into contact with the gas in the air.

It was also found that the coal dust in Ralph's Mine was extremely inflammable, and this meant that the force of the explosion through the tunnels was greater than would be expected.

Years earlier, on March 26, 1896, sixty-five miners were killed at the Brunner Mine near Brunner when an explosion rocked the mine. Some of the victims died as a result of the blast, while others died of the poisonous gases that followed. It was the worst mining disaster in New Zealand's history.

However, mining-related fatalities in New Zealand are low when compared to China, which has the worst safety record when it comes to mining. In 2009 alone, more than 2,600 miners were killed in accidents throughout the country.

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