FuzzySlippers
11-21-2010, 07:01 PM
Engineers began drilling a test shaft into a New Zealand ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) mine today in an effort to test the levels of toxic gases that have hampered efforts to rescue 29 trapped miners, including two Britons.
Pete Rodger, 40, from Perthshire and Malcolm Campbell, 25, from Fife, are among the 29 miners trapped in the Pike River mine in Greymouth on South Island on Friday after an explosion believed to have been caused by a methane gas leak.
The test shaft, which will be about 15cm wide and will have to get through around 150m of rock, will allow rescuers to gauge levels of methane and carbon monoxide in the mine before launching a full-scale rescue operation. Mine officials warned the process could take up to 24 hours and have not ruled out the possibility of further explosions.
The operation comes as Russell Smith, 50, one of only two workers to have escaped the mine, spoke about his experience of the blast today. Smith said the explosion threw him 15m from his machine, showering him in debris which tore off his hat and knocked him out before he was helped out of the mine by his fellow miner Daniel Rockhouse, 24.
Read more: [Only registered and activated users can see links]
Pete Rodger, 40, from Perthshire and Malcolm Campbell, 25, from Fife, are among the 29 miners trapped in the Pike River mine in Greymouth on South Island on Friday after an explosion believed to have been caused by a methane gas leak.
The test shaft, which will be about 15cm wide and will have to get through around 150m of rock, will allow rescuers to gauge levels of methane and carbon monoxide in the mine before launching a full-scale rescue operation. Mine officials warned the process could take up to 24 hours and have not ruled out the possibility of further explosions.
The operation comes as Russell Smith, 50, one of only two workers to have escaped the mine, spoke about his experience of the blast today. Smith said the explosion threw him 15m from his machine, showering him in debris which tore off his hat and knocked him out before he was helped out of the mine by his fellow miner Daniel Rockhouse, 24.
Read more: [Only registered and activated users can see links]