NZ mine blast survivor Daniel Rockhouse tells how he got out alive

FIRST came a boom, and everything went dark.

Miner Daniel Rockhouse was blasted out of the driver's seat of his loader by the energy wave of the explosion.

He picked himself up off the floor, scrambled to fix his emergency oxygen mask, then began stumbling out along 1.7km of pitch-black tunnel, towards the light.

He picked up a telephone and dialled out to mine management, telling them a blast had occurred - and then he resumed the slow slog out of the mine.

Along the way, Mr Rockhouse repeatedly felt his way towards the compressed-air pipe running along the wall of the Pike River coal mine, opening the valves and gasping in fresh, cool air, letting it wash across his face.

He could not see, or hear, anyone through the thick black smoke swirling past.

This is the first detailed account of how Mr Rockhouse, 24, and electrician Russell Smith, 50, survived the New Zealand mining disaster that has trapped 29 men, including two Australians.

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