Miners trained in forensic work ahead of planned Pike River mine re-entry
Wednesday, 13 February 2019
Miners are being trained by police for forensic work involved in the re-entry of the West Coast's Pike River mine drift.
The Pike River Recovery Agency and police both confirmed the training is happening on the West Coast this week, but declined to say whether the training is on how to avoid contaminating evidence or how to handle potential evidence in the mine drift (access tunnel).
Police have said they will enter the mine once they know it is safe and discussions with experts are ongoing.
Stuff understands an independent risk assessment commissioned by police raised concerns about the risk to staff underground.
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Twenty-nine men died in a series of explosions at the West Coast mine, north of Greymouth, on November 19, 2010.
The agency is preparing to reenter the mine's drift in an attempt to recover any evidence or bodies.
Massey University law professor Chris Gallavin previously said the forensic integrity of the site could potentially be compromised if crime scene experts did not go into the mine first.
An agency spokeswoman said those involved in the training would speak to media on Thursday.
'There will be a short stand-up about the forensic training with agency chief executive Dave Gawn, chief operating officer Dinghy Pattinson, New Zealand police Assistant Commissioner Tusha Penny and Family Reference Group chair Anna Osborne,' she said.
'Assistant Commissioner Penny will also run through the police approach to re-entry for its staff.'
She referred questions about the training involved to police.
A police spokesman said the training was being delivered by police all week, but he would not comment further until Thursday 'out of fairness to all media'.
Bernie Monk, whose son Michael died in the mine blast, said the families' expert and former chief mines inspector, Tony Forster, was attending the training.
He would be among the first to reenter the mine drift.
He understood the re-entry team would go through the 2300-metre access tunnel first and, if evidence or remains were found, they would retreat to allow police forensic experts to recover whatever was there.
The families are most interested in a previously unexplored area 1600m into the drift, which includes an electrical substation. Some believe it may also contain one or more bodies.