Any injury underground is a cause for concern but when fatalities occur, it becomes more disturbing and the whole safety record of the industry is questioned.

The strong bond forged by fellow miners underground extends to all miners anywhere around the world, be they in China, Russia, the US or New Zealand.

It has been a bad year for mining disasters. In April, 29 workers lost their lives in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia.

Australian rescue and safety intelligence was immediately offered and actively shared with US mining companies and regulators to help prevent a similar disaster.

Miners were also trapped in a hard rock mine in Chile - and were also assisted by Australian expertise. Fortunately, their story had a happy ending.

Historically, Australia has had its fair share of mining disasters and the communities involved still commemorate the passing of their miners.

The Moura mine in central Queensland had three horrific mining disasters between 1975 and 1994, in which bodies could not be recovered.

Thirteen miners died in the Kianga section of the mine in 1975, 12 died in the Moura No. 4 mine in 1986 and 11 died in an explosion in 1994 at the Moura No. 2 mine.

The Appin New South Wales explosion in 1979, which tragically killed 14 miners, was started by a rush of methane gas around 11pm in K panel, a remote mine tunnel about 3 kilometres underground.

Ten miners died in the crib room while having a food break and another four were found some distance away. The recovery, which involved 100 volunteers, lasted for more than 26 hours.

NSW Mines Rescue's Seamus Devlin, a mine rescue veteran of the Appin disaster, and colleague David Connell were immediately dispatched to Greymouth to assist with the Pike River rescue.



The Pike River disaster, in which two Australians lost their lives, is a reminder to all in the industry why there must be an obsession with safety and the management of potential dangers underground.

Even in this day and age with such awareness of safety, mining remains an extremely risky business. Underground coal mining has an even greater level of risk with its threat of gas and explosions.

There will be a long recovery to find the bodies of the miners in the still unsafe Pike River mine, where smouldering coal and methane build-up pose the threat of yet another explosion.

There will also be royal commissions into the causes of the explosion and whether it was wise to attempt to send robots underground to find and retrieve the miners.

While this occurs there will be sadness and enduring respect for the lost miners. Hopefully, there will also be lessons learned to prevent similar tragedies.

We offer our condolences to the families of the miners and the community of Greymouth.