All hope lost after second Pike River mine explosion

Police have confirmed there was an explosion at the Pike River coal mine on the West Coast today and they believe there is no chance of any of the 29 miners survived.
Families of the miners were told in Greymouth this afternoon there was an explosion at 2.37pm, bigger than last Friday's, and all hope was now lost.
Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn, who was at the civic centre when the new was broken to the families, said ``this is the West Coast's darkest hour''.
He said the news had been ``sickening'', and families were devastated.
``People were angry, shouting, some fell to the floor when they were told,'' he said.
``They were just sickened by the whole thing.''
Upset family members took out their anger on police at the meeting but Pike River chief executive Peter Whittall, who delivered the news, was spared.
Many of those now deemed dead were friends of Mr Whittall, a popular figure in Greymouth.
Mr Whittall told reporters he delivered the news to the families.
``I fronted (to) the families by myself and gave them the news. It was hard obviously.
``They've looked to me for hope and they've looked to me for keeping them informed and to let them know what's going on, which I've tried to do as factually and clearly as I could right the way through.
``What happened up there wasn't because of the guys that were working up there.
``The police can now deal with what's going on. They're still responsible. But it was my task and I wanted to tell the families.''
Some of the miners' relatives ran from the briefing in tears, venting their anger as they pushed through the cordon of waiting journalists outside.
Emerging from the briefing, police Superintendent Gary Knowles, who headed the rescue operation, said there was an extremely severe explosion this afternoon and police believed there could be no survivors.
``We are now in recovery mode,'' he said.
He said it was his most tragic moment as a policeman.
The situation outside the briefing was tense, with distraught family members wanting to be left alone.
An upset Laurie Drew, father of missing miner Zen Drew, was the first to speak to the news media, telling them of the explosion, before Mr Knowles emerged.
Mining safety expert David Feickert told TV One the chances were the miners had not suffered.
The chances were the miners were overcome by carbon monoxide earlier and would have not have been affected by this afternoon's explosion, Mr Feickert said.