By Anne Brodie
The fact-based drama Pike River revives one of the worst disasters in New Zealand’s history and the shocking aftermath. On Nov. 19 2010, near Greymouth, twenty-nine miners died in a mine explosion, the legacy of corporate carelessness and failure to secure the men and the mine. Among the dead was a 17-year-old who was on his first day working, fathers, grandfathers and sons. The opening aerial scenes of the mine beneath a range of hills are ominous. Pike River Coal opened in 2008 bringing prosperity and jobs to the isolated rural south island community but one afternoon, villagers gathered in the local pub poolhall heard sirens wailing as their phones rang. Horrified to hear there’d been an incident at the mine they headed there, including wives Anna Osborne (Melanie Lynskey) and Sonya Rockhouse (Robyn Malcolm). Men were being rushed away in ambulances but owners refused to answer questions, saying only that there was a place workers could access air for seven days. No response when asked what caused the explosion or if anyone was dead. Just that it was unsafe to send rescuers. Subsequent methane explosions on Nov 24, 26 and 28 resulted in the sealing of the mine and the announcement that all the miners were dead. They would not be reocvered and returned to their families. Anna and Sonya demanded the cave be reopened but were refused; years later then Prime Minister John Key said he would apologise in person for the Government’s weak regulations and inadequate inspection regime. It was a brutally sad event and unnecessary; the corporation was proven to have failed basic safety regulations. Anna and Sonya took the government to court ; they were offered cash payouts but they refused. A horrific case of negligence and endless coverups that cost 29 lives and devastated hundreds. OnTVOD now.