I was getting a great deal of stick for suggesting some people might actually have done something to save Alison Hume (see http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169278).
However, I totally see where everyone was coming from on this occasion. If a team had gone in, all that would have been achieved would have been more loss of life, and it's obvious those in charge knew that.
Rolfe.
Yes. Different scenario entirely. This sounds more like the Blantyre Mining Disaster in 1877, when 207 lives were lost in a village then no larger than Greymouth is now. The Ayrshire "rescue" involved a casualty in plain sight in a hole with no gas problems.