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Efforts to recover Pike River bodies to begin

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After six agonising months, efforts to pull the bodies of two Scots from their makeshift grave in New Zealand’s Pike River mine could finally begin.

“I have spoken to several mine rescue men who say the authorities missed a chance when they did not go right in after the explosion.

“That is what they did in Mexico in a similar explosion recently and they got the men out.”

Mr Campbell pointed out that Malcolm’s colleagues all of whom have fire and rescue training were ready to go and get their “brothers” after the blast.

He said, “They are finding it very hard to live with the fact that they were not given the chance to go in.

“I think I speak for every family of the Pike River victims when I say we are disappointed that nobody stuck their neck out and tried to persuade the mine owners to go back in for the boys.”

The stricken families have been told it could cost anything between £1 million and £4 million to bring the bodies out and it is not yet clear who will foot the bill.

Nevertheless, Mr Campbell insists the bodies must be recovered, whatever the price.

He said, “One of the bodies has been identified very close to the seat of the blast. If, as we were told, the blast temperature was 3000 degrees, there is no way bodies should be in there.”

“We were told basically that there were 29 heaps of ashes in that mine. We know now that is not true. There are identifiable bodies there.”

The Campbells are ultimately prepared to let Malcolm’s body rest in peace in the mine but only if every alternative option is exhausted.

Mr Campbell said, “It was six months last Thursday since the explosion and we will wait-whether it takes another six months or two years so long as we know Malcolm is going to come home some time.”

Mr Rodger had emigrated to New Zealand before the tragedy and it is understood that he will be laid to rest there if and when the bodies are brought to the surface.

Malcolm Campbell (25), from Cameron near St Andrews, and 40-year-old Pete Rodger, from Perth, were among the 29 people to perish when a series of devastating explosions ripped through the mine in November.

Malcolm’s grief-stricken parents said that they were desperate to bring their son home.

It has been a torturous few months for the family. Six months before the Pike River disaster, Malcolm’s grandmother died. Last week his grandfather Jim Wallace passed away.

Malcolm’s parents, Jane and Malcolm senior, and sister Kerry have been left reeling. They now hope that Malcolm’s body will at last come home so that he can keep his grandparents company in the Cameron churchyard.

Work to recover the 29 bodies from Pike River is set to begin on Monday.

The news comes after a series of secret meetings between lawyers, police, the mine’s receivers and the rescue trust.

The families had been led to believe the victims’ bodies had been incinerated, but recent footage showed that many areas of the mine were untouched by fire and bodies were intact. Malcolm’s family are upset that it has taken so long for the recovery operation to get under way and are convinced rescue crews should have entered the mine in the immediate aftermath of the explosion.

Mr Campbell said, “The last six months has been a period of agonising uncertainty but now we have been given hope that Malcolm and all the other boys will be coming out.

“It is disappointing that the families have had to pressurise those involved to recover the bodies and that we still haven’t had the boys home.”

“It is so hard for us now that Malcolm’s granddad has died too. He would have wanted us to do everything we could to keep the pressure on the receivers and the police to at least try to recover all the bodies.

“Malcolm is still our boy and we just want to bring him home to be with his granny and granddad in Cameron churchyard.”Costly fightMr Campbell, a quarry manager, revealed that the family are putting every penny they have into the fight to recover his son’s body.

He said, “Sadly, it all boils down to money. There are billions of pounds worth of coal in that mine and millions of pounds worth of equipment in there.

“If, as we now know from photographic evidence, the bodies are still intact, then that equipment will still be intact too and the receivers…will want to retrieve that.

“Aside from the families’ wishes, from a purely economic point of view, it makes sense for whoever owns the mine to recover the bodies and get it working again.

“That part of New Zealand is a very wealthy area, but it is fast declining as work dries up.

“They need the mine to be operational to help regenerate the economy, which has been severely damaged by the Pike River disaster then the earthquake in Christchurch.”

The Campbells are calling on the UK Government to help them bring their son home.

Mr Campbell said, “We would like to see the government intervening. Peter Rodger and Malcolm are still British citizens. Peter won’t be repatriated as his home was in New Zealand, but Malcolm should be allowed to come home.”

Mr Campbell refuses to blame anyone for what has happened, but he believes that more action and less talking might have produced a happier outcome.

He said, “We don’t blame anyone all we have asked throughout this terrible, surreal time is for them to try to recover the bodies.

Continued…