'Missing' Pike River letter found as mine barrier rubble removed

Friday, 10 January 2020

The family members of missing Pike River miners were pleased to find a 'missing letter' from 2011 at the drift barrier.

A letter has been found among the rubble at Pike River almost nine years after it was left to promise crews would return for the missing miners.

Pike River Recovery Agency chief operating officer Dinghy Pattinson left the note on the seal 170 metres up the mine's drift (or access tunnel) in 2011, promising to return to get the 29 men out.

The letter included the handwritten line: 'We've made a start of coming to get you.'

Pattinson headed a three-person recovery crew that re-entered the drift on May 21 last year with the aim of finding evidence of what caused the explosion the fatal November 2010 explosion.

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Pike River Family Reference Group member Rowdy Durbridge, right, reads the letter promising to return for 29 missing miners with Pike River Recovery Agency chief operating officer Dinghy Pattinson.

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They were unable to find the note or the plastic cover it was placed inside and believed it had probably disintegrated.

However, it was spotted in barrier rubble removed from the drift this week by Family Reference Group member Rowdy Durbridge.

Pike River Recovery Agency chief operating officer Dinghy Pattinson at the 170m seal in December.

Durbridge was the last person to see the letter – outside of the Mines Rescue team – before it was placed at the seal. Its rediscovery was an emotional moment for him and Pattinson.

'We couldn't work out what had happened to the letter, but finally we have it back,' Pattinson said.

'It must have been covered over at some stage.

'It's being dried out and together with the Family Reference Group, we'll decide what to do next with it.'

The agency stepped through the barrier just before Christmas after two weeks of ventilating the 2.3-kilometre drift with fresh air.

This week, agency miners trained by New Zealand police completed a forensic search of the area immediately on the internal side the barrier.

Mining teams are recovering the drift in 20m sections. Police specialists are on-site to coordinate the forensic examination and process any items that may be of interest to the ongoing criminal investigation.

Removing the barrier marked the start of the next phase, which will be to advance safely up the rest of the drift over the coming months, Pattinson said.

'Our plans dictate that we never have more than six men underground at any one time and we have a six-man refuge chamber that will be advanced as we move up the drift. There are also a number of other controls in place to mitigate the risks of working underground.

'The mine was closed for two weeks over the Christmas period and it has confirmed the atmosphere underground has remained in a stable condition,' he said.