Day 4 of the Pike River Mine crisis

Groups of family and friends of the 29 miners and contractors have been boarding busses and have visited the site of the mine. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Here is what has happened today as the West Coast remains on tenterhooks over the fate of the 29 miners after a blast in the Pike River mine on Friday.

One of the two men who escaped the blast gave an extensive interview to the Herald describing what he saw. An explosion of white light and a sound like a shotgun blast knocked him off his feet as the tunnel filled with choking white smoke of carbon monoxide.

Rescuers are continuing to drill down a hole to the tunnel. Once they break through they will drop a camera as well as air quality test equipment to check the atmosphere and to see if anything can be seen.

The Defence Force has also provided a robot which could be used to enter the mine to investigate.

Prime Minister John Key and Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee have promised an inquiry later into the blast but say the immediate priority is the rescue operation.

We now know the names of the miners. Their families consented to the release of the names so people could put faces to the miners.

Police have said for the first time that, while they remain optimistic and open to all eventualities, they are also having to prepare for the loss of life.

- NZ Herald staff