Hope for miners lost after second blast

ALL 29 men missing in a New Zealand coal mine died after a powerful second blast tore through the pit, plunging the country into mourning.

Police said there was no chance of finding anyone alive, confirming the country’s worst mining accident in nearly a century. Prime Minister John Key called it a “national tragedy” and said flags would fly at half-mast.

“Where this morning we held on to hope, we must now make way for sorrow,” Key said. “Today, all New Zealanders grieve for these men. We are a nation in mourning.”