‘Weeks before miners found’

EXPERTS said it could take weeks or months before the bodies of the victims of New Zealand’s mining disaster were recovered.

Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Whittall said the company was determined to recover the remains of 29 men, including two Britons, who were declared dead after two explosions deep underground.

But there are still very high levels of potentially explosive gases in the mine that have made it too dangerous for anyone to enter since the first blast last Friday.