Tragedy at Pike River Mine

Updated Edition 2025

This new edition contains a completely up-to-date timeline.

Winner of four major awards.
Brilliantly written by award-winning journalist Rebecca Macfie.

'Devastating account of a needless tragedy' - Otago Daily Times
'Lucid, exhaustive, enraging' - New Zealand Listener
'Compelling account of what went wrong' - Weekend Herald
'Highly readable, sometimes shocking' - The Press
'Compulsory reading for directors, managers and business students' - Newsroom

On a sunny afternoon in November 2010, in the beautiful Paparoa Range of the South Island, a massive explosion rocked an underground coal mine. Later that day, two ashen men stumbled from the entrance. Twenty-nine men remained unaccounted for. Initial probes revealed fatally high methane levels in the mine - conditions deemed unsurvivable for the trapped men. But it was only after a second blast five days later that all hope was extinguished.

Tragedy at Pike River Mine is a dramatic, superbly researched, and page-turning account of a disaster that should never have happened, of the dramatic political and legal fallout, and the effect on the small West Coast community. It reveals an appalling string of mistakes, from consent being given for the mine in the first place, to lack of proper monitoring equipment, pressure to ignore safety requirements, and effectively only a single exit. It puts a human face on the people who suffered, and provides penetrating insight on who's to blame.

This is an essential read for everyone who cares about the future of New Zealand and our values as a nation. Rebecca Macfie's writing on Pike River has been hailed for its veracity, perspicacity, and powerful human interest.