AFP - New Zealand paused for two minutes' silence Thursday as a sombre remembrance service honoured 29 miners killed in a tragedy Premier John Key said had left the nation raw and grieving.
More than 11,000 people gathered at the foothills of the Paparoa mountain range, where the Pike River colliery is located, to mourn before 29 tables, each bearing a miner's helmet and mementos of the dead men.
On a makeshift stage adorned with ferns, the national emblem, Key said four million New Zealanders stood ready to offer sympathy and support for the bereaved families killed in a series of explosions at the colliery last month.
"What happened at Pike River has become a fresh, new, raw part of the story of New Zealand," Key told the crowd, many of whom stood weeping in bright sunshine at Greymouth's Omoto racetrack on the South Island's remote west coast.
After reading a roll call of the dead, Key and other dignitaries including Governor-General Anand Satyanand filed past the tables bearing tributes to the miners as a lone piper played.
He made mention of the overseas victims of the disaster -- two Australians, two Britons and a South African -- saying they died far from home but were now forever part of the west coast community.
"Their names will be etched alongside those of our own Kiwi sons, on some yet-to-be-determined monument to honour and commemorate the lost miners," he said.
Satyanand read out some of the condolence messages that poured in from around the globe after the miners were trapped by a November 19 explosion at the colliery then confirmed dead when another blast hit five days later.
They included expressions of sorrow from Queen Elizabeth II, still the monarch of New Zealand, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and leaders from Singapore, Italy and Belgium.
The prime minister, whose own father died when he was six years old, also offered a heartfelt message of hope to the mothers of the 13 children whose fathers died in the country's worst mine disaster for almost a century.
"It is a terrible thing to happen. But it doesn?t mean your children will not go on to live happy, worthwhile and fulfilling lives," he said.
The local Grey District mayor Tony Kokshoorn said the coal industry had extracted high price on the west coast, citing a string of mining tragedies through the region's history which have claimed hundreds of lives.
He said the rescue of 33 Chilean miners who survived more than two months underground inspired hope after the first explosion, adding "I guess we drew the short straw" and the miracle was not repeated.
"Once more the bell tolls through this valley, it's not a happy sound," Kokshoorn said.
Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Whittall, who became the face of the tragedy as he held public briefings on attempts to reach the miners, paid tribute to their families and the emergency crews.
But he acknowledged there was unfinished business as the miners remained entombed in the pit, which remains too dangerous to enter, and vowed "to bring them home".
"Our men are still in the mine and the mine is still holding us out," he said.
"We're fighting to win the battle with science, with courage, with tenacity and sheer bloody determination."
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