Pike River Mine Disaster

Date: November 19, 2010 • Location: Greymouth, New Zealand

The first of four explosions occurred at the Pike River Mine in the West Coast in New Zealand's worst mining disaster in nearly a century.

The Pike River Mine disaster was a coal mining accident that occurred on 19 November 2010 in the Pike River Mine, 46 km (29 mi) northeast of Greymouth, in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island. It began with a methane explosion at approximately 3:44 pm. The accident resulted in the deaths of 29 miners.