All 29 miners trapped in a coal mine in New Zealand are believed to be dead after a second explosion, police say.
"It is our belief that no one has survived and everyone will have perished. This is one of the most tragic things I have had to do as a police office," police superintendent Gary Knowles told reporters. "We are now in recovery mode," he added. Police superintendent Gary Knowles said the second explosion occurred mid-afternoon Wednesday, almost exactly five days after the first blast in the Pike River mine. Potentially explosive methane gas had been swirling in the Pike River mine since the initial blast last Friday. New Zealand's mines have been safe historically, with 181 deaths in 114 years. The worst disaster was in 1896, when 65 died in a gas explosion. Friday's explosion occurred in the same coal seam.
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