GREYMOUTH, New Zealand, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Three days after an explosion tore through a New Zealand coal mine, trapping 29 miners, authorities say it still isn't safe to send a rescue team underground.
Fears of potentially explosive gases have prevented rescuers from entering the mine since the blast Friday at Pike River Mine, located on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island near the town of Greymouth.
Peter Whittall, chief executive officer of mine operator Pike River Coal Ltd., told TVNZ news the danger of entering the mine for a rescue effort before having a clear picture of the situation would be "like walking up the barrel of a gun."
"There's fresh air in the tunnel, people think that must be safe, but there's a bullet at the end and we don't know if it's going to go off at this stage."
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News reports Monday said that drilling on a borehole into the mineshaft was nearing its final stages, with 6.5 feet of the 531-foot tunnel to go. But authorities said they expect that it will take until Tuesday morning before cameras and listening devices can be lowered into the mine.
"We still remain optimistic, we're still keeping an open mind," Police Superintendent Gary Knowles told reporters Monday. "But we are planning for all outcomes and as part of this process we're planning for the possible loss of life as a result of what's occurred underground."
It isn't known what caused the methane explosion.
"Obviously it goes without saying at the time of the incident there was an unsafe situation," said Whittall, New Zealand's 3News reports.
"Otherwise it wouldn't have occurred. It doesn't say the mine was operated unsafely. It doesn't say the events leading up to the incident were being managed unsafely."
But a West Coast geologist warned about the threat of explosions from gas in the Pike River mine more than three years ago, The Press of South Island, NZ reports. Western Exploration Director Murry Cave told The Press that the coal in Pike River was at the "higher end of the scale" for its levels of gas, with each ton of coal containing about 353 cubic feet of gas.
The Press also reported that in a meeting with Pike River Coal shareholders four days before the mine explosion, Whittall told them that the mine was a complex geological environment that would continue to pose challenges at different times.
Pike River Coal had recently cut its production forecast for the June 2011 year by nearly half to between 320,000 tons and 360,000 tons of hard coking coal, from a previous forecast of 620,000 tons.
