Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe NZ police have decided that the program to reclaim bodies of miners from the Pike River mine near Greymouth on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island will cease.PM John key claims that cost has nothing to do with the decision to halt proceedings at Pike River to make the mine safe for a recovery team. A GAG jet engine on loan from Queensland in Australia has been used for a number of weeks to try and get some stability in the mine which is full of toxic gases, which caused the four explosions in the mine and the death of all 29 miners and contractors working in the mine a couple of months ago.
However, John Key has promised the families of the dead men they would get their men home!
John Key will suffer the political fallout of this decision - it is his ultimate decision not the police who have been financing the operation at Pike River. His Government will lose the West Coast seat at the next elections. The fallout may well have a snowballing effect that will destroy this government.
It will now be the decision of the receivers of the failed company, Pike River Coal, to consider the future. They only have $10 million dollars left in the kitty now.
The families of the dead men are shattered at the decision to stop any future recovery. The mine will be sealed. Any future decision will be subject to the Royal Commission of Enquiry in coming months.
