2010 Pike River mine explosion

The Pike River Mine disaster was a coal mining accident that began on 19 November 2010 in the Pike River Mine, 46 kilometres (29 mi) northeast of Greymouth, in the West Coast Region of New Zealand's South Island. At the time of the explosion 31 miners and contractors were present in the mine. Two miners managed to walk from the mine, the remaining 16 miners and 13 contractors, were believed to be at least 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) from the mine's entrance. The Pike River Mine incident ranks as New Zealand's worst mining disaster since 1914, when 43 men died at Ralph's Mine in Huntly.