Pike River: Body-recovery work to continue

Mines rescue crew working on the GAG machine. Photo / Pool, The Press

The shell-shocked West Coast and much of New Zealand will come to a standstill today as the victims of one of the country's worst tragedies are remembered.

But at Pike River, work will go on uninterrupted to try to recover the bodies of the 29 workers lying deep inside the coalmine after a series of blasts.

As dignitaries and thousands of others gather this afternoon for a remembrance service, emergency service staff will work on at the mine, where a jet engine GAG unit is being employed to try to make the mine safe enough to enter.

It was hoped the unit would be in use overnight, initially to try to put out the fire in the mine.

Police commander Superintendent Gary Knowles said those at the mine would not walk away.

"All the emergency services would like to be at the remembrance service, but we also want to make sure we focus on the rescue."

Mine rescue staff, who will go into the mine once it is considered safe, would be at the service "to be with their brothers", Mr Knowles said.

Today's service will include speeches by Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand and Prime Minister John Key as well as hymns, songs and poems. It will begin with two minutes' silence, which Mr Key is asking all New Zealanders to observe.

The names of the dead miners will then be read aloud. Each of the 29 will be represented by a table on which items unique to him will be placed.

People originally from the West Coast are flocking in from all parts of the country in support of the province they once called home.

Hokitika's small airport has been given an exemption to take larger aircraft to accommodate the hundreds flying in.

Tim Mora, who will lead the service, said it was vital that the local community and the nation grieved together. "No matter how hard it is, we come together ... because it is something we must do."

The service was not about the individual recognition of each of the dead miners, Mr Mora said.

"To try and focus on 29, I think, would be impossible. And then to try to single one out over and against the others - we just can't do that."

The personal grieving for the individuals would come later.

"I know people are planning [individual] memorial services and then later - and I still hope that they will recover the bodies - there will be individual funerals as well."

Mr Knowles said yesterday that the GAG unit had been tested and was ready to go. Once the fire underground was put out, gas such as nitrogen would be pumped in to try to cool the mine interior to make it possible for recovery teams to enter.

The ventilation shaft would be capped to stop it spewing smoke and flames.

Australian expert Dave Cliff is on hand to guide the recovery efforts. Mr Knowles stressed the recovery process would take days rather than hours.