Pike River dads want electrical evidence in mine retrieved by specialists

Wednesday, 22 July 2020

Pike River Recovery Agency staff open and walk through doors at the 170m seal. (Video first published December 17, 2019)

Pike River fathers are calling for evidence recovered from the mine to be handled by independent experts.

Dean Dunbar and Bernie Monk, who both lost sons in the 2010 explosion that killed 29 men, have been investigating the circumstances surrounding the two explosions at the mine.

The Pike River Recovery Agency is recovering the mine drift, or access tunnel, in the hopes of uncovering evidence as to what caused the explosions for an ongoing police investigation.

The fathers held a meeting for Pike River families and agency bosses in Greymouth on Wednesday night.

Photos of the 29 deceased miners are shown on display at the public memorial on the access road to the Pike River Mine.

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Dean Dunbar, the father of Pike River victim Joseph Dunbar, who was killed in the 2010 mine explosion.

Dean Dunbar, whose 17-year-old son Joseph was a victim, said the meeting was needed because agency staff were close to reaching a part of the drift known as Pit Bottom in Stone, which holds electrical equipment. It is believed the equipment could hold vital information as to what caused the explosions.

“It is so important that nobody touches the equipment, except the manufacturers of that unit. They are the only ones who should be removing it. We have one chance at this, and we must get it right,” he said.

Agency staff included miners who were trained by police to handle forensic evidence before removing it and giving it to police for their investigation.

Dunbar and Monk have previously called for an independent inquiry after they battled police for copies of the Scada data, or “black box” of the mining operation. Police initially denied the data still existed, but later released some of it to the fathers.

Family members travelled into the Pike River mine drift for the first time last year.

The West Coast coal mine blew up for the second time on November 24, 2010, five days after the first explosion, ruling out any chance any of the 29 men inside were still alive.

Dunbar and Monk previously said they had seen footage from the mine which showed the second explosion was caused by a conveyor belt being turned on. A police investigation found no evidence it was turned on.

The encrypted Scada data is an electronic record of everything happening at the mine, with video footage, measurements of gas levels and electrical activity, and records of phone calls.

Dunbar and Monk believe the data holds crucial information about the cause of the second explosion, which effectively ended all rescue hopes. They have spent months analysing the data, as well as leaked documents, with the help of Dunedin electrical expert Richard Healey.

Healey attended the meeting in Greymouth, along with agency bosses Dave Gawn and Dinghy Pattinson. About 10 family members attended in person, with others linking in by phone.

A police spokesperson said police were aware of Dunbar and Monk's investigation and had previously been briefed.

“The scene examination at the mine continues and with the police investigation ongoing we are unable to comment on the findings,” she said.

In a statement in May 2019, police said the conveyor belt investigation included reviewing the design and operation of the conveyor belt, along with the known circumstances leading up to the second explosion.