If there is are grounds for criticism of how the recovery has been handled it could be that families might have been given false hope that if a recovery crew could get to where the men were there would be anything left to bring out.
Shortly after the second explosion there was talk about the need to use DNA for identification but the implications of that might not have been clear to everyone.
It’s human to hope even when it seems hopeless. While some of the families accepted the sad reality that they’d not see the men they’d lost again others kept hoping that first rescue and then recovery was possible.
Their anger at the end of the recovery efforts is understandable but for their own sakes they need to take a lead from those who have faced the facts and start looking forward.
As unpalatable as what Ele has blogged may be to some people, especially those closely linked to the Pike River tragedy, we concur with her. A fire has been burning in the mine for almost two months, reportedly at temperatures approaching 1000*C. We believe that it is highly unlikely that there will be anything human to retrieve.
In addition, we doubt that there will be much left in the mine of evidential value to police and coronial investigations, as well as for the Royal Commission. There may be remnants of heavy machinery, but that is likely to be all. Surely, if the police believed that there was material evidence to be gathered, they would still be controlling the site.
The Pike River families have gone through a terribly traumatic time since the initial explosion on Friday 19 November. One would not wish their heartache on anyone, and as a nation we have all hoped for some good news for them. Two months on however the Pike River mine is still unstable, and it would be foolish to risk further casualties. We'll leave the final word to Phil Glover:
Glover said if a retrieval team did make it underground, the dark, cramped and volatile conditions they would have to work under would make the task of finding human remains virtually impossible.
“I don’t know how I would feel if it was one of my family down there, but the practical side of me would be saying that this is their last resting place.”
13 comments:
Quitter.
Just like Key.
I agree with Ele's point of view.
From a practical perspective the thought of trudging 2k into an unlit tunnel with full breathing apparatus into a methane filed and oxygen free environment to search for whats left of skeletal remains is simply impractical and unrealistic.
Out of curiosity I looked at the range of operating temperatures in crematoria. They temperatures range, according to wikipaedia, from 760C to 1150C. So given that there has been a number of explosions, and an underground fire with temperatures in excess of 1000c I would suggest that there would be very little left to find of those who died in the mine.
It's not a matter of being a quitter, just realistic.
Speculation alex. Nothing more.
Should police not bother searching for the remains of a child killed years earlier because 'there is very little left to find'.
Bags you tell the grieving family seeking closure.
I did the same search Alex, out of curiosity. As well as the temperatures you mention, I noted that the cremation process takes 90 minutes to two hours, depending on the size of the individual. The fire in the Pike River mine has burned for almost two months now; draw your own conclusions as to what that means.
Not really speculation, Robert, experience & knowledge on the part of those making the decisions. Besides. sealing the mine right now might help (might, probably not though) choke the fire so it can be revisited later. There's nothing much else that can be done now.
Crap talk Robert - the remains of that child were probably not located in a toxic environment where retrieving them may cost more lives.
The families now have $7Million dollars between them, what is to stop them using their own money to search for 'evidence'.
If there's no bodies left there's very unlikely to be any evidence either.
But even if there is soemthing to be found attempting to retrieve it isn't worth risking further lives.
if
To be fair Robert, a good number of your responses to posts here are based on "if's", "but's" and "maybe's" ...
To be fair to whom?
It is a hard situation really.
I can understand that the families would like something, anything of their loved ones remains.
But the cold hard reality is that this is probably not possible, and if it were, like others have said, based on the heat, what is there to find?
This will be hard or the family to understand or accept.
The thing that media seem to ignore is that these are grieving people whose love for their lost ones is making them want to hope and believe that there is something to find. Their emotional state at this stage will be stopping them from facing reality (some of them, not necessarily all) and accepting the inevitable.
I don't blame them though, because if I was in their situation I would probably been the same.
RG
Your example of "Should police not bother searching for the remains of a child killed years earlier because 'there is very little left to find'." is not even a comparable situation.
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