This afternoon's blast, believed to be caused by a buildup of flammable methane gas over the past five days, was "horrific," Police Superintendent Gary Knowles told CNN. "No one survived."
It's New Zealand's worst mining disaster in more than a century.
"I was at the mine myself when this actually occurred," Knowles told the BBC. "This is one of the most tragic things I have had to do as a police officer."
Families have huddled at the Pike River mine since the men were trapped Friday, given hope by the miraculous rescue of 33 miners in Chile last month after more than two months underground. But Pike River CEO Peter Whittall, visibly shaken, had to deliver bad news.
"While we were hopeful that we could get some men out of the mine, it was realistic that many of them would never have come out alive," he said, according to The Daily Telegraph. "But this [explosion] takes us to the point where I'm unlikely to see my workmates walk out of that mine again."
Relatives wept, wailed and fell to the ground on hearing the news. "They have all held out hope that it is their son, their husband, their brother would be the lucky one," Whittall said.
Lawrie Drew, whose 21-year-old son is among the dead, described the moment when authorities told him of the tragedy.
"We thought they were going in for a rescue mobilization and we got told to hush up, and then they told us a second explosion took place," Drew told Australia's ABC News. "That's when people got up and started yelling abuse, saying, 'You had the window of opportunity five days ago, why didn't you take it?'"
"People shouted out in anger, they are sickened by the whole thing. A lot of them felt misled," Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn told the BBC. "It's unbelievable. This is the West Coast's darkest hour. It doesn't get worse than this."
Authorities insist that today's tragic explosion proves that their caution was justified. Rescuers have held back from entering the mine shaft for five days, amid fears that flammable, poisonous gases could end up killing those trying to help as well.
Prime Minister John Key declared the event a "national tragedy." Flags across the country are flying at half-staff.
"To lose this many brothers at once strikes an agonizing blow," Key said on national TV. He is traveling to the tiny town of Greymouth to meet with mourning families on Thursday. Key also announced a national commission of inquiry, on top of separate investigations by the labor department and coroner.
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The Pike River coal mine is one of New Zealand's largest mines, having begun operations just a year ago. It had never had a fatal accident. Today's blast is the country's worst mining disaster since 1896, when 65 miners died in a gas explosion at a coal mine near Pike River. Overall, though, New Zealand's mining industry is considered relatively safe, with 210 deaths over the past 114 years, according to The Associated Press. Today's explosion is believed to have been a "natural event," Whittall said, not one sparked by rescuers' efforts. Two remote-controlled robots entered the mineshaft today, probing for signs of life and testing air-quality levels. Those tests revealed large quantities of methane gas moments before the blast rang out.
"All the people who insisted that the rescue teams should have gone in anyway have been shown by this explosion why they shouldn't have gone in," Whittall told the Telegraph. "I'm sure the men underground would have understood."
In addition to 24 New Zealanders, two Australians, two Britons and a South African were killed.