Sunday 5 December 2010

An operation has begun to extinguish the fire coming from the vent shaft of the Pike River mine and cool the surrounding concrete pad.

At present temperatures around the shaft make it impossible to approach safely.

The two images below show conditions at the vent today, Sunday 5 December.

An image of the vent shaft condition on Sunday 5th December.

An image of the vent shaft condition on Sunday 5th December.