Hope Fading for Trapped New Zealand Miners

Fears of flammable gas are slowing efforts to reach 29 miners trapped underground.

As the drilling of a borehole into the Pike River Coal mine nears its final stages, readings from the mine’s ventilation shaft indicate underground temperatures and gas levels are still too high to attempt a rescue. In the final ten metres of the borehole operation, the drilling will be slowed and a diamond-tipped drill used to minimize the chance of sparks that could ignite another explosion. Nothing has been heard from the 29 men since an explosion ripped through the mine on Friday, and rescuers are still a day away from lowering cameras and listening equipment through the borehole. For the first time since the disaster, yesterday police admitted that the men may already be dead.