NORTH Queenslander Josh Ufer is believed to be one of two Australians trapped after a blast at a New Zealand coal mine.

A Facebook entry states that the 27-year-old works for Valley Longwall Drilling and it is understood he was on secondment to the New Zealand operation.

His partner is reportedly three months pregnant.

The second Australian has not been identified and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) has declined to confirm the names of either man, citing privacy legislation.



The men are among 29 miners who became trapped yesterday following an explosion at the Pike River Coal mine near Greymouth, on the South Island's west coast.



Rescuers hoping to free them fear there is a high chance of a second blast after worrying results from gas tests.



Mining union representative Trevor Bolderson said: "Gas samples taken at the mine are turning the wrong way and we are expecting that the second explosion may be forthcoming.



"At the moment the rescue guys can't get into the mine because of this."

A spokeswoman on Saturday confirmed at least two Australians are among 29 miners trapped after an explosion at the Pike River Coal mine near Greymouth yesterday.

"There are grave concerns for the safety of two Australians whose names are on the list of those trapped underground," the spokeswoman told AAP.

The Australian consul general to New Zealand was present at the site and liaising with police, rescuers and families, she added.

Earlier on Saturday, chief executive of the mine, Peter Whittall, told reporters the nationalities of eight of the 29 miners remained unknown, leading to fears there may be more than two Australians among the group.

"There was two Australians underground, at least two because as I said there's about eight we don't know their nationality," Mr Whittall said.

There were some British citizens as well as New Zealanders in the mine, he added.

There has been no contact with the miners - aged between 17 and 62 - since the explosion at the mine on Friday afternoon.



Australia is sending a team of rescue experts to New Zealand to assist the rescue, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said today.

A technical expert from Emergency Management Australia and a team of six mine rescue experts from NSW Emergency Management would leave today to lend their assistance.

"These forms of assistance will be deployed today and other forms of assistance remain ready for deployment should that be necessary," he said.



The Pike River mine is carved into the remote and rugged mountain terrain on the west coast of the South Island.

For three decades, prospectors have sought to extract what is New Zealand's richest seam of coking coal, but it's only in recent years that technology has allowed them.

It's a three-shifts-a-day, around-the-clock operation, which aims to process 1.5 million tonnes of coal a year.

But today, 27 workers are trapped and haven't been in contact with the outside world since the unexplained explosion yesterday afternoon.

Television footage showed blackened and singed trees and light smoke billowing from the top of a mountain where a 110m-long ventilation shaft emerges. A nearby hut had been blown down, suggesting a powerful blast had shot up the shaft from deep in the mine.

While emergency workers assembled in nearby Greymouth last night, no immediate rescue attempt could be started for fears of a dangerous gas build-up.

"They're itching to get in there and start looking for other people and a bit frustrated at having to stand and wait," police spokeswoman Barbara Dunn said last night.

While the condition of the missing miners was not clear, the prospect that they could be alive but trapped recalls the saga of 33 Chilean mine workers who spent 69 days 1km beneath the surface in a collapsed gold and copper mine. They were rescued last month in a televised event that captivated the world.

Pike River Coal Ltd chief executive Peter Whittall confirmed 27 people were missing - 15 miners employed by the company and 12 local contractors.

The coal seam is reached through a 2.3km horizontal tunnel that bores into a mountain toward the seam, which lies about 200m beneath the surface.

Yesterday, the only bright moments came when two men, dazed and slightly injured, stumbled to the surface. Russell Smith, 50, and Daniel Rockhouse, 24, fled to the entrance following the explosion and were being treated for moderate injuries at Grey Base Hospital.

One of the pair was the man who raised the alarm shortly after 3.45pm.

An electrician went into the mine yesterday to investigate a power outage and found a loader driver who had been blown off his machine by the blast.

"They're being interviewed and we're trying to determine ... the full nature of the incident," Mr Whittall said.

Mr Smith and Mr Rockhouse indicated three more workers were on their way out, with differing reports as to whether they had made it out.

Relatives of the missing miners mounted a vigil at the cordon but were later offered space at a Red Cross welfare centre in Greymouth to await news.

Mr Whittall said all workers had safety equipment and described the safety conditions in the mine as "excellent".

"Every worker carried a safety rescue device at all times including a breathing apparatus with oxygen," he said.

"The men are between 2 and 2.5km inside but, because the mine drills into the side of the mountain, they are probably only 120m below the surface."

Each miner carries 30 minutes of oxygen supply - enough to reach oxygen stores that should last several days.

Any rescue attempt overnight was stalled because police said ventilation inside the mine shaft might be without power.

It is feared the mine might still have pockets of "fire damp" or explosive methane gas which could not be ventilated because the fans were not working.

Air quality testing was urgently being conducted.

New Zealand mining expert Dave Feikert said it was not known what had caused the blast but if methane gas had mixed with coal dust, the explosion would have been very big.

"The biggest problem is to find where the guys are," he said.



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Originally published as Trapped Australian miner named