Hopes fade for missing miner
Police have all but given up hope of finding a miner trapped deep underground alive.
A drone equipped with sensitive 3D laser technology, on loan from BHP, was flown in to help in the search for the missing Queenstown man on Thursday.
The high-tech scanner has examined a rockfall in the area, finding his loading vehicle partially covered by fallen debris.
Authorities now say the amount of earth and rock in the way indicates it's highly unlikely that he could have survived.
The focus now turns to recovery with no indication of how long that process will take.
Police have expressed their well wishes to the man's family, who've requested privacy, and the West Coast community.
