NZ mine hit by another blast

ANOTHER underground blast ripped through a New Zealand coal mine yesterday almost a week to the minute after an earlier explosion caused the country’s worst mining disaster in decades, with 29 killed.

No one was injured in the latest explosion at the Pike River Coal mine, which is filled with potentially explosive methane gas leaking from the coal seam.

The gas, plus a suspected fire deep underground that is a likely ignition source, has kept anyone from entering the mine since the first blast on November 19 caught the 29 men inside.