School helps pupils in 'tough time'

Grieving family members show their emotion after being told that a second explosion occurred in the Pike River Coal Mine. Photo / Getty Images

There are at least 10 children in Greymouth who no longer have fathers - and one unborn child who will never meet its dad.

Greymouth High School principal Jim Luders said this was an extremely tough time and it would take a long time for the community to recover, he told One News.

"It's going to be a hard Christmas, hard holidays ... we need to show our aroha and show our support."

Mr Luders said West Coast children would be hit hard by this because they are a small community and they are absolutely "gutted".

It was the school's "paramount vision" to supports its pupils and the families of the mining disaster, he said.

Greymouth High School will be doing everything they could to support the families and the community and would be open today for students who wished to go to school, he said.

Professor Beverley Raphael told Science Media that there would be terrible grief and guilt felt among the families of the victims.

"The explosion, the toxic nature of the gases, particularly the prolonged period, will influence how family members imagine the way their loved ones have died."

She said that because Greymouth has a small population of only 10, 000 it would be hit particularly hard.

"The fact it is a small community will compound the problem. In a small community, the whole community is affected.

"These people are intimately connected, many of them have been there their whole lives and grown up with each other."

The Governor-General, Sir Anand Satyanand, said last night that grief from the deaths of the 29 Pike River mine workers "will be felt for many years to come".

He said in a statement he and his wife Susan learned of the death with "deep sadness".

"We join all New Zealanders in extending our deep sympathy to the families, friends, colleagues and communities.

"This is a disaster that will be felt at many levels. First and foremost, it is a great personal loss for the individual families and friends of those who died.

"The wider West Coast community will also feel keenly the loss of those they have known as friends, neighbours and workmates."

- Additional reporting: NZPA