The 29 miners trapped underground in a New Zealand coal mine after an explosion last week are believed dead following a second blast inside the mine Wednesday afternoon.
The official in charge of the rescue effort said the operation has shifted to recovery of bodies following a “horrific” blast that was stronger than the first explosion, CNN reports. Rescuers never made contact with the trapped miners: 24 New Zealanders, two Australians, two Britons and one South African.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key called the accident a “national tragedy.”
The mine was believed to be filling with toxic gases that are also thought to have caused the explosions. Air released during drilling as part of the rescue attempt contained high levels of carbon monoxide and methane, but little oxygen.
News of the explosion devastated families who still held out hope, in part because of the survival story of the 33 miners rescued in Chile.
This was one of the worst mining disasters in the history of New Zealand, a country whose mining industry is relatively small and generally considered safe. There have been 210 deaths in 114 years including this most recent tragedy.
Improved safety technology and rescue techniques have helped bring down mining deaths worldwide, the Christian Science Monitor reported last month, but fatalities remain common in China and other developing countries.
Last year, 2,631 miners were killed in China.
This year, in the U.S. 29 miners were killed in an April blast at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia. At least 66 miners died in underground blasts at the Raspadskaya mine in Russia. More than 70 miners were killed after a gas explosion at a coal mine in Colombia.
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