The Australian reports a mining safety specialist who quit New Zealand’s fatal Pike River coal mine over concerns it was too dangerous will present crucial expert testimony to the royal commission into the disaster, which killed 29 men. Peter Sattler went public last week for the first time to claim Pike River lacked critical equipment required in Australian mines, which could have avoided the enormous methane explosion that ripped through the mine near Greymouth on November 19.
The move comes as, for the first time since the blast, rescue experts prepare to enter the mine, in a step towards recovering bodies and recommissioning the operation.
“It was like Australian mining from the 1960s,” Mr Sattler, now back working in Australia, said. “They are four decades behind in mine safety.”
