Prime Minister fears the worst in mine disaster

New Zealand's Prime Minister has warned his nation to prepare for the worst as 29 coal miners remained trapped and unreachable five days after a massive underground blast.

A bomb-disposal robot that was sent into the Pike River mine to assess conditions and learn the fate of the men short-circuited and failed when it hit water.

Replacements were being flown in, but Gary Knowles, head of the rescue operation, said poisonous gasses were still too strong to allow teams to go in.

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"This is a very serious situation and the longer it goes on, hopes fade, and we have to be realistic," he said.

The robot's failure and the release of security camera footage showing the huge power of the blast last Friday sent relatives' hopes for the men's survival plummeting.

"We hope and pray that the missing men are alive and well," Prime Minister John Key said in a sombre address to parliament. "But given we have not had contact with the men for nearly four days, the situation remains grave. Although we must stay optimistic, police are now planning for the possible loss of life."

There had been little progress hours later, when the situation entered its fifth day.

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Police superintendent Knowles said the army robot sent in to transmit pictures and assess gas levels was damaged by water and out of commission. Authorities were urgently seeking other such robots from West Australia and the US to replace the broken one.

"I won't send people in to recover a robot if their lives are in danger," Supt Knowles said.

"Toxicity is still too unstable to send rescue teams in."

Making matters worse, the drilling team boring into the mine tunnel had hit "very hard rock" overnight, he said.

Family members have expressed frustration with the pace of the response as officials acknowledge it may be too late to save the miners, who have not been heard from since the massive explosion ripped through the Pike River Mine on the country's South Island.

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A build-up of methane gas is the suspected cause of the explosion. And now the presence of that gas and others – some of them believed to be coming from a smouldering fire deep underground – are delaying a rescue over fears they could still explode.

A diamond-tipped drill was put to work as workers hit layers of hard rock and came within 33ft of the tunnel where they believe some of the miners are trapped. The 500ft-long shaft they are creating will allow them to sample gas levels – including explosive methane and carbon dioxide – and determine if rescuers can finally move in days after the blast.

Supt Knowles said rescuers planned to drop a listening device down the hole to see if they could hear anything – such as tapping sounds – that might indicate that the miners were still alive.

"This is a very serious situation and the longer it goes on, hopes fade, and we have to be realistic. We will not go underground until the environment is safe," he said.

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Two workers stumbled out of the mine within hours of the explosion, but there has been no contact at all with the remaining 29.

A phone deep inside the mine has not been answered.

Police Minister Judith Collins said everybody shared the frustration that a rescue had not yet started.

"The situation is bleak, it is grave, but we can't put people underground to risk their lives," she said.

Security footage showed a wall of white dust surging from the mine entrance and small stones rolling past for about 50 seconds as the force of the blast ripped out of the mine.

The dust was blown across a valley and the blast wave shot up a ventilation shaft, tearing off surface vents.