The removal of a 20 tonne loader that has blocked the Pike River drift since the day the mine exploded marks the start of the forensic recovery of a crime scene that has been locked away for ten years.

Russell Smith was driving the loader when the mine exploded and was one of two men to escape with their lives. He says the investigation is becoming very real. “The loader is like the door to the vault, everything beyond it is unseen and holds new evidence. After all this time we are finally getting the chance to hold someone to account for killing the guys I worked with.”

Pike River widow Anna Osborne says waiting and watching for the loader to come out took her back to the day of the explosion. “While other family members and I waited in the families room for hours for the loader to come out I felt like I was taken back to the day we all sat in that godforsaken mine office waiting for our boys to come out, but they never did and nobody ever answered for that.

“It finally feels like we might be able to get some truth.”

Rowdy Durbridge lost his boy Dan in the mine, “There’s a smell that comes with a mine explosion, it’s called afterdamp and you don’t forget it. That stink has stuck to everything that’s come out of Pike - it’s an evil smell but it’s finally being aired out.”

Sonya Rockhouse says reaching the loader vindicates families who have fought for justice for years. “We were told that it was too dangerous to go into the drift, that there was nothing but ash and that we should put it behind us. Now we know that’s false.

“It’s an intact crime scene and we were stopped from having it examined for years based on claims that were just not true.”

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