Twenty-seven coal miners are missing after an explosion tore through an underground mine on New Zealand's remote west coast.
A major rescue operation is under way after the blast at Pike River coal mine, on the South Island, at about 4.30pm (3.30am Irish time).
Two miners survived but there had been no contact with any others, the mining company's chief executive said.
Police said a specialist mine rescue team was at the scene assessing how to reach the underground site of the explosion.
The miners had started the afternoon shift about an hour beforehand.
'There are 36 tags still on the board at the mine. Those miners have not yet been heard from,' a police spokeswoman said.
Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Whittall denied reports a body had been removed from the mine shaft.
'I've not had any reports of that at all,' he told TV3. 'We've had two miners who've walked out of the mine and they're currently being spoken to and treated on the surface.
'We've had no communication with anyone else underground at this stage.'
The mine has a 2.4km access tunnel running beneath the Paparoa Mountain range to the coal seam.
Police said power was cut off by the blast, complicating the rescue operation at the remote location.
Ambulances, medevac helicopters and rescue workers were on the surface ready to treat any injured miners.
Grey District mayor Tony Kokshoorn told Radio New Zealand he was praying the miners were still alive.
'We're just keeping our fingers crossed but it's not good,' he said.
A total of 33 miners were successfully rescued last month after surviving more than two months in a tunnel 622m below the surface of Chile's northern Atacama desert.
New Zealand Mining Minister Gerry Browlee said the government would put whatever resources were needed into rescuing the miners.
'Their priority will be getting people out,' he said. 'I certainly feel very sympathetic to (their) families, it's a dreadful situation for them to be in.'
Mr Brownlee said the mine was well built and had good ventilation 'so I hope that will be helping'.
But Fairfax Media's stuff.co.nz website said the mine had been plagued by delays before production started last year, including a collapsed air ventilation shaft.
The South Island's west coast is the centre of New Zealand's mining industry and was the scene of the country's worst mine disaster in 1896, when an underground explosion killed 65 miners at the Brunner mine.
The mine involved in today's explosion lies at the opposite side of the Paparoa Ranges to the site of another disaster in 1968, when a blast killed 19 people at the Strongman mine.
The Pike River mine produces hard coking coal for the steel industry and made its first shipment of 20,000 tonnes of coal to India in February.
The mine is jointly owned by New Zealand Oil & Gas and two Indian companies - Gujarat NRE Coke and Saurashtra Fuels Private Ltd.
It is one of only a handful of underground coal mines in New Zealand.
