Joseph Dunbar celebrated his 17th birthday last Thursday. The following day he proudly started his new job at the River Pike coal mine, located 46 km east of the small town of Greymouth in the West Coast Region of New Zealand's South Island.
Shortly after excitedly entering the tunnel, a massive explosion ripped through the mine, trapping the teenager together with 28 workmates some two and a half kilometers from the entrance. In spite of the ferocity of the explosion, but encouraged by the dramatic rescue of miners trapped in Chile just a couple of weeks ago, relatives remained hopeful that a similar miracle would happen this time in New Zealand.
But I awoke this morning to news that another massive explosion occured at the River Pike mine overnight. Even had these miners survived last week's blast, experts were now sure that they would all now have perished.
Orphan is the word for someone who loses a parent, and widow for someone who loses their wife. But there is no word in the English language to describe a parent who loses a child. Today, the parents of Joseph Dunbar will be mourning the loss of their teenage son, as will the nearest and dearest of all of the other lost miners. The pain of losing a child is absolutely unimaginable to me.
It is awful that anyone has to make a living by working in an underground pit. And it is particularly shocking that young men like Joseph, not yet having become a legal adult, are sent down into the bowels of the earth. What is a civilised country like New Zealand doing sending people of such a tender age down into these ugly and dangerous pits?
As a parent, my thoughts today are with Dean and Philippa Dunbar.
Grandpa Jonathan
Prague, Czech Republic
