An ODT article.
One of six boreholes that police plan to drill into the Pike River Mine workings will look at where the last phone call was answered deep within the mine — a call that possibly captured the noise of the explosion in November 2010.
Police hope to prove or eliminate theories from the royal commission of inquiry as to what triggered the first explosion, and possibly find the cause and time of death.
They have also chosen the borehole locations based on specialist advice.
The royal commission found the immediate cause of the tragedy was a large methane explosion. The methane possibly came from a void (goaf) formed during mining of the first coal extraction panel.