The machinery yet to come out of Pike River mine's drift

Friday, 12 June 2020

The second military robot to be sent into the Pike River drift in the days after the explosion has been recovered by the reentry team.

Five robots were sent into the Pike River Mine drift in the days and months after the explosions that killed 29 men.

All of them broke down – and only one reached survivor Russell Smith's loader, which is 1900 metres into the tunnel.

After recovery agency staff recovered two of the robots from the drift, there are hopes not just that the three other robots will come out, but that agency staff will extract the loader too.

The Pike River Recovery Agency is completing the $50m task of reentering and recovering any evidence or bodies that might be found in the 2.3km mine drift, or access tunnel.

In the days after the first explosion in the West Coast mine on November 19, 2010, police sent four robots into the mine in an attempt to find the whereabouts of the 29 men underground.

On November 23, the first Defence Force robot was sent into the mine and broke down just 550m in after reaching water. On November 24, two robots were sent into the mine and also broke down in the drift. Later that day, a second explosion rocked the mine, ruling out any possible rescue. A fourth robot, which had been sourced from the US, was sent into the mine but also broke down.

In 2011, a fifth robot was sent into the mine but failed soon after.

An NZ Defence Force battery powered robot was fitted with four cameras but broke down in the mine access tunnel.

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The first was recovered at 530m, and the second military robot was found at 748m.

Pike River mum Sonya Rockhouse said the families had had to fight to have access to the footage from the failed remotely-operated robots at the time.

'It showed the robots motoring down the middle of the drift and I remember thinking how clean the drift looked,' she said.

'That was one of the reasons we fought for the drift re-entry was because we knew how little damage there was,' she said.

Her son Ben was killed in the mine, while her other son Daniel survived the blast and rescued Smith. Agency staff will recover both of the vehicles, or loaders, the men were driving in the mine drift. They sit at roughly 1500m and 1900m.

The robot procured for the Pike River mine disaster from the USA. It was the fourth robot to enter the mine and break down.

Rockhouse was pleased with the reentry progress.

'It's great. It's just moving quite quickly now. I'm apprehensive about the loaders coming out. It's very emotional. We always said it could be done and here we are,' she said.

She said all the items would be handed over to police for forensic examination, and agency staff had been trained on how to handle the items to preserve them as evidence.

Once all the robots were recovered, the agency staff would come to Smith’s loader at about 1500m.

'Then we are into unseen territory including the room that contains electrical gear and other evidence,' she said.

“This is what we fought for, it’s the chance to get to the truth of what killed the men and boys we loved and hopefully to hold someone accountable for it.”

Robots and vehicles in Pike River mine drift

1. At about 530m – Robot from Western Australia Waterworks (recovered)

2. 748m – Army Robot 2. (recovered)

3. At 930m – Army Robot 1.

4. At 1161m – Large Robot from Western Australia Waterworks

5. At 1569m – Small Robot from Western Australia Waterworks

6. At 1563m – Loader in tunnel (The one Russell Smith was driving)

7. At 1900m - Daniel Rockhouse's loader