An Anglican minister on the West Coast says hope still remains in the hearts of the family of the 29 trapped workers at a mine, despite time passing with no results.
The Reverend Tim Mora presides over the parish at Runaga, the small mining town closest to the Pike River Coal mine, where a methane blast on Friday afternoon has trapped miners underground.
He says about 200 people attended a service for the men on Saturday and the church is organising a nightly half-hour vigil.
Reverend Mora says everyone knows someone trapped in the mine, including himself who officiated the marriage of two of the men.
He says he knows seven or eight families who have men lost underground. The Pike River explosion is reminding people of the 1967 Strongman mine disaster, also close to Greymouth, that killed 19 men.
