Mine Blast: Cowardice in NZ Police

I am staggered that police have so far failed to enter the mine because of poisonous gas.

One man with breathing gear could sort this out.

Hopeless.

Comments

[CM]

Second guessing from afar, with very few details, is all fine, but don't start abusing people and calling them 'cowards'. That's just dumb.

[Ben]

Tend to agree CM - I'm not sure we're in a position to make a judgment like that yet.

The police are obviously not mine rescue experts, so are presumably making these decisions based on the advice of mine rescue experts. I'm not sure we should expect them to ignore expert advice in this situation.

Comparing this to their hesitancy to approach a gunman on the rampage is not a like-for-like comparison.

[CM]

Of course we aren't People LOVE being armchair quarterbacks though, even though they have no idea really what's going on.

When my step-brother (cop) was shot just before Xmas last year I realised pretty quickly that piecing it together simply by what was reported in the media led to quite a difference impression than we got first-hand from the cops.

[CM]

Anyway, I think it's pretty obvious now that they're all dead. And may have all died in the intial explosion (let's hope so, if they are indeed dead).

If this is the case, would this be the biggest loss of life in a single event in NZ since the Wahine sinking in 1968 (53 dead)? Erebus was obviously not IN the country (1979; 237 dead). Obviously Aramoana was half that amount. Tangiwai was earlier than Wahine (1953; 151 dead).

[Elijah]

There indeed is a cover up.I believe that a certain technological artifact has been discovered, and the resulting death toll was to silence any potential witnesses.The time delay by the government is to ensure that a retrieval team is removing any evidence and making it appear as an accident.

[Ben]

Elijah - I'll believe it when the evidence is there to see it. What evidence is there to suggest it's a cover up?

[Titan-Uranus]

Methane is an Explosive gas,Moron.

[SHG]

So now that there have been two more underground explosions, I presume an apology to the police will be forthcoming..?

[Ian Wishart]

I'm not sure how the explosions change the feasibility of an immediate one person recon attempt as described. I'm not advocating that a 20 strong rescue team pack picnic lunches and take a stroll in the mine on day four.

Had one person gone in, they may well have found all 29 dead already, and saved much heartache and speculation.

As for apologising to the police national hq for calling them cowards? Never. PNHQ building is referred to by rank and file as "cowards' castle", and I've covered enough stories where police inaction cost lives - it really is true, in a genuine life or death emergency the advice is to call the fire brigade, not police.

As for Gary Knowles, I've got a file on police corruption in his patch that's an inch thick...waiting to see what the Minister does about it.

Apologise? Don't make me laugh.

[SHG]

Update: THREE more underground explosions.

[Ben]

Ian - I look forward to hearing your perspective on the man just announced to replace Howard Broad, Peter Marshall.