Distraught relatives sobbed and collapsed Wednesday as a rugged New Zealand coastal town faced its "darkest hour" following a mining disaster which killed 29 workers.
Locals in Greymouth said they had been desperately clinging to the hope that the miracle rescue of 33 Chilean miners last month would be repeated at the Pike River colliery.
But news of a devastating second blast, following Friday's initial explosion, confirmed fears that Pike River would not become a third survival tale, after Chile and the rescue of 29 Chinese miners only this week.
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'Horrific'
"In the back of our minds we probably all knew their chances weren't good, but this is just horrific," said Greymouth retiree Neil Mooney.
Grey District mayor Tony Kokshoorn, who was present when police told family members there was no prospect anyone remained alive in the coal mine, described how the relatives' intense anger accompanied the devastating sense of loss.
"They were screaming at them. It was absolute despair," he told reporters, describing people collapsing as they were overcome with grief and calling it the region's "darkest hour".
"When the news came everyone just cracked up. People were openly weeping everywhere. People shouted out in anger, they are sickened by the whole thing. A lot of them felt misled."
Greymouth's main street was almost deserted in the hours after the announcement, as people gathered in pubs or sat at home transfixed by TV reports of the tragedy at the mine, 50 kilometres (30 miles) out of town.
"I've just been in the the pub and it's packed but it's absolutely silent," businessman David Streeter told AFP. "It's a morbid feeling.
"There's a woman there who knew someone in the mine and she's being consoled."
Messages of hope
Signs in shop windows offered messages of hope and support for the miners, the latest victims of the dangerous industry on which the tough west coast town was founded.
Yellow ribbons tied to traffic signs fluttered in the breeze, symbols of hope that was cruelly snuffed out by Wednesday's second explosion.
The mother of the youngest miner killed, 17-year-old Joseph Dunbar, who was on his first shift underground when the blast hit, broke the news to friends shortly after the official announcement.
"I regret to inform you that Joseph will not be coming home," she said in a text message to friends seen by AFP.
Along with the grief was anger, particularly at police, who were blamed for preventing rescuers from trying to reach the missing men in the days immediately after the first blast.
"As a New Zealander, I feel the police let us down," Streeter said, while builder Mike Curtis said: "They should have gone down straight away, all the old timers knew that."
Curtis knew one of the miners, Michael Monk, 23, a star player in the local rugby league team.
"I trained him up as a builder, he only left about three months ago to go to the mine to get a bit of extra money," he said.
"It's a sad occasion for the town, everyone feels buggered."
Mooney said he was at home when news of the second explosion broke.
"I came in late, they were all shushing me, glued to the TV," he said. "You see the families on there, people you know, it's like a dream, you're thinking 'this can't be Greymouth'."
Local MP Chris Auchinvole said west coasters were resilient, and the tight-knit community would slowly recover, as it did after 19 died in a 1967 mining accident nearby.
"It's probably a difficult thing to say at this stage but this type of tragedy is not new to the coast," he said. "It has been experienced in previous generations and indeed in the current generation."
