Judge orders mining disaster payout

A bankrupt New Zealand coal company has been ordered to pay compensation to the families of 29 miners, including two Britons, killed in a 2010 methane explosion - though they may receive just a fraction of the payout.

A judge ruled that the miners’ families and two survivors of the explosion should get NZ $110,000 (€65,543) individually, an amount in doubt because Pike River Coal went into bankruptcy soon after the explosion.