The Pike River mining disaster was a tragedy that shocked the world. Twenty-nine men who were in the New Zealand coal mine died when it collapsed in a series of explosions. The BBC’s Phil Mercer covered the accident 10 years ago and has been talking to families of victims still coming to terms with their loss.
The day after his 17th birthday, Joseph Ray Dunbar began his first shift underground at the Pike River coal mine in New Zealand.
He was a “strong-minded boy” who wanted to carve his own path in life, but on that day in November 2010 he became the youngest victim of a mining disaster that killed 29 men.
Their bodies have never been recovered, and a decade later the teenager’s father Dean is still looking for answers.
“In a modern society you don’t wipe out 29 men and just walk away,” he told the BBC. “Joseph’s legacy is righting the wrongs of the past whether it be by government agencies, police or politicians.”
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