THE family of a Scot killed in a mining disaster in New Zealand will visit the site with relatives of other victims to mark the second anniversary of the tragedy.
Malcolm Campbell and his wife Jane, who lost their son, also called Malcolm, 25, of St Andrews in Fife, will join with around 150 relatives in a visit to the site of the November 2010 explosion.
Mr Campbell revealed the plans as a damning report into the Pike River mine incident was published.
Pete Rodger, 40, from Perthshire, was also killed with 27 other men in an accident which investigators say could have been prevented.
Mr Campbell now fears his son will never be recovered in his lifetime, and plans to pay tribute at his final resting place.
He said: "The new owners (Solid Energy) told us the only way Malcolm and the other men will be removed is if they ever do a mining operation in that area and we've been told that could be at least 10 years away.
"We would much rather have him home, to be buried alongside his granny and grandad, but I don't see that ever happening in my lifetime. We know it's a terrible place he's in with the other men. He's got to lie there and become part of history.
"We've got to say now we're leaving Malcolm over there and we're going over later this month to say our goodbyes."
The mine, in Atarau on the country's South Island, was rocked by an initial explosion that trapped the workers.
A second blast five days later dashed hopes that any of the workers had survived.
The Royal Commission report into the incident revealed the now-bankrupt Pike River Coal company ignored 21 warnings that methane had accumulated to explosive levels. Investigators also said the firm exposed the miners to unacceptable risk as it strove to meet financial targets.
Mr Campbell said the report was a lot worse than he and his family expected.
He said: "When it comes to using the word preventable, it's really hard to take. There are dangers in all kinds of industries, and especially in mining, but there's an obligation to keep workers as safe as possible.
"Money was an issue and they were under pressure to get the coal out. When you see the health and safety implications, that was their priority rather than keeping the workers safe."
The report also criticised the New Zealand Government and concluded that the country has a poor safety record in its workplaces.
This led to the resignation of Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson, a move which Mr Campbell said was "definitely the right decision".
He added: "It's an admission from the government they know they did something wrong. They had the power to shut that mine down.
"The mine was inspected just three days before and it was deemed safe. It's all a bit iffy how it was ever signed off.
"New Zealand has a terrible health and safety record. The main thing now is they learn from this so it doesn't happen again."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article