Investigators plan drilling at Pike River

• Author: Kurt Bayer
• Published date: 01 October 2022
• Publication title: Bay of Plenty Times

The decision to undertake further drilling at the mine comes after police consultation with an expert mine panel as part of the ongoing criminal investigation into the first explosion at the infamous West Coat coalmine on November 19, 2010

Detective Superintendent Peter Read said the families spoken to yesterday were surprised by the decision to undertake further borehole drilling but were grateful for the opportunity it offered in terms of the gathering of evidence.

Some families who have long campaigned to retrieve the dead men trapped deep underground and also bring criminal charges remain hopeful that a prosecution is still possible.

“The previous borehole drilling operation, which ran from June 2021 to March 2022, provided police with valuable information to inform our investigation into the underground activity that led to the first explosion at the mine,” Read said.

Police revealed in March this year that the borehole drilling, which started in early 2019, had been wrapped up.

Eight sets of human remains were captured in imaging during borehole the drilling operation.

Over the past four months, the police investigation team and the expert mine panel have been reviewing the gathered evidence.

Police now say the review has established that more drilling is imperative to ensure the investigation team has all the necessary information to reach a definitive conclusion as to what led to the first explosion.

“The families of the 29 men lost at the mine have been...