Family's ordeal over trapped Scottish miner

Peter Rodger, 40, from Perthshire, and Malcolm Campbell, 25, from St Andrews, Fife, are among 29 miners left unaccounted for after a fireball ripped through the Pike River coal mine in Atarau on the South Island.

Rescuers have still not been able to enter the mine, more than three days after a blast tore through the pit's underground tunnels.

The missing group consists of 24 New Zealanders, two Australians and one South African, as well as the two Scots. Initial suggestions that two of the missing miners are originally from Yorkshire have proved unfounded.

Mr Campbell's 50-year-old father, Malcolm Snr, and mother Jane, 45, said they were still clinging to the hope of receiving good news.

They said: "We can't concentrate on anything, we can't sleep. Our prayers and thoughts go out to everybody who is going through this in New Zealand. We just keep hoping everything will be fine."

Mr Campbell is due to marry his fiancee, Amanda Shields, 23, next month.

His father said: "Only last month we were watching the Chilean miners being rescued. I remember saying to my wife how awful it would be if it happened to Malcolm – and now it has."

Mr Rodger moved to New Zealand two years ago to be near his mother and sister, who had emigrated there some years before.

His New Zealand-born girlfriend, Dianne Morris, wrote on Facebook: "Just got to keep having positive thoughts."

Mr Rodger's friend, John Daniel, 59, described the missing man as an adventurer who loves life.

"I'm just shocked he is caught up in all this," he added. "Peter just wanted to make the most of his life and just took everything as it came."

New Zealand police said there was still too much combustible and noxious gas present for rescuers to safely enter the mine. Officials have insisted they are still focusing on search and rescue, not search and recovery – but as the hours drag on, hopes for the men are beginning to fade.

One of the two miners who managed to escape the blast has described being bombarded with a wall of dust and debris.

Russell Smith was driving a loader into the mine when he saw a flash in front of him.

"It wasn't just a bang, finish – it just kept coming, kept coming, kept coming," he said. "So I crouched down as low as I could in the seat and tried to get behind this metal door, to stop getting pelted with all this debris.

"I remember struggling for breath. It was dust, stone dust – I just couldn't breathe. That's the last I remember."

His colleague Daniel Rockhouse found him lying in the tunnel and pulled him to safety. The two took at least an hour to escape the dust-choked tunnel.

A hole is now being drilled from the mountain above to lower listening devices into the mine. The missing men, aged from 17 to 62, are believed to be just over a mile down the main tunnel.

Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince William have offered their support, while Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said: "We are concerned obviously for the fate of all 29 of the miners who are trapped.

"But the fact two Scots are among them, and two Scottish families have that concern, makes this all the more immediate for people across Scotland. There's no more we can do than send our best wishes for rescue."

Pike River has operated since 2008, extracting 58.5 million tons of coal – the largest deposit of hard-coking coal in New Zealand.