Police staff could enter Pike River mine if re-entry is approved

Tuesday, 18 September 2018

Police staff will be trained to work underground so they can re-enter the Pike River Mine access tunnel. 

They will enter the tunnel only if the mine re-entry plan is approved by both the Police Commissioner and an independent review. 

Christchurch Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Collins has been seconded to represent police in the Pike River Recover Agency.

He is working alongside the agency to gather of potential evidence and recover any bodies that may be found in the 2.4-kilometre tunnel, or drift. Twenty-nine men died in a series of explosions at the West Coast mine, north of Greymouth, on November 19, 2010.

**READ MORE:

* Police prepare to reopen investigation into Pike River explosion

* Counting the costs of going back into Pike River Mine

* Experts consider Pike River Mine re-entry options**

Collins had no prior involvement with the Pike River investigation. 

He said if re-entry was achieved, police would complete a scene examination, recover any bodies, and complete any other processes required on behalf of the coroner.

Police decided in 2013 to leave the criminal investigation open until the scene could be examined.

Any new evidence they found would be used to determine whether charges could be laid.

Collins has been working with experts this month to assess options for re-entering the mine's drift. 

'It's quite complex but the process has been thorough and robust. My focus is on the forensic search of the drift and minimising any disturbance of evidence when the tunnel is being re-entered,' he said. 

One option is to create a small tunnel that will intersect the drift and provide a second means of escape.

Collins said there was a risk that evidence could be disturbed when the tunnellers broke through to the main tunnel. 

The experts had also discussed sending a camera through a small bore hole to have a look first so another re-entry point could be used if any evidence was seen.

An area of the drift called the Pit Bottom in Stone, which held electrical and circuit equipment, would be of most interest to police. 

Collins said possible causes of the explosion could be ruled out after examining that area. 

He hoped to enter the drift personally to examine the scene, and said all police staff involved in the re-entry would be fully trained first in underground mining safety. 

The police's executive team would decide whether it was safe for staff to enter once the risk assessment was complete. Collins understood police would also have the re-entry plan independently reviewed. 

'It's a very important opportunity for police to possibly recover any remains for the families. We are very cognisant of how the families would like us to look after any of the 29 men that could be in the previously unexplored section of the drift,' he said. 

'This has been a significant issue and one that has the whole country very interested in the outcome.' 

A statement issued by police in July 2013 said there was ample evidence of widespread departures from accepted standards of mine operations before the mine exploded, but there was insufficient evidence to support manslaughter charges. 

WorkSafe successfully laid health and safety charges against the mining company and a contractor. Charges against the mine's boss, Peter Whittall, were withdrawn but that decision was later found to be unlawful by the Supreme Court. 

The investigation involved 16 police investigators, interviews with 284 people, 25,000 pages of witness statement transcripts, and 34 million pages of documentation.

It concluded that re-entry to the mine would allow a scene examination to be completed, but there was no certainty any new relevant information would be found and no guarantee it would lead to a prosecution.