A staged re-entry has commenced at the underground mine near Moranbah where five men were seriously injured in an explosion last week.

Four men remain in a critical condition in the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and another, aged 44, is decsribed as being in a good condition after suffering severe burns at Grosvenor mine on Wednesday.

“Earlier today, a staged re-entry to the Grosvenor mine commenced, after our risk assessment received approval from the Mines Inspectorate,” chief executive officer of Anglo American’s metallurgical coal business, Tyler Mitchelson, said.

“The staged re-entry ensures that all safety controls are in place including reconnecting the gas monitoring equipment, restoring power to the underground and pumping excess water from the mine.

“Re-entry to the mine will enable investigations into the incident to commence; we will ensure our investigation draws on the best possible expert advice.

“We will not resume mining until we are satisfied that we know what happened and how we can avoid it happening again.

“Our team at Grosvenor has worked tirelessly, under challenging circumstances, to ensure we can safely re-enter the mine so we can begin investigations and I want to acknowledge their work and dedication.”

Mr Mitchelson said the company’s focus remained on the care of the injured mens and their families, and finding out what went wrong.

“We have sent our coal mine workers due to work last week home on full pay and will continue to approach this day by day, as we step through our investigation,” he said.

“It would not be right for us or anyone else to comment on the circumstances leading up to this incident, as this will all form part of the thorough expert investigation. It is therefore very premature for anyone to speculate on the causes of this particular incident.”