What a sad time in Greymouth. What a sad and tragic four years it’s been. And now Solid Energy has said the risk to life is too great to re-enter the Pike River Mine to recover the bodies of the 29 men, and it has surrendered its mining permit.

The Government may now pursue a civil case - that depends on the advice from Crown Law. But it looks as if this really is the end of the road for everyone. The 29 men will remain where they lie.

Solid Energy says it has gone through a process, a risk assessment process, and they involved independent technical advisors. This is why a recovery operation would be difficult:

- There is the potential for the mine roof to collapse. You may remember there was a fire that raged in that mine in the days the followed the explosion. No-one knows quite what state the mine is now in.

- There is very real risk associated with managing the gas and the ventilation in the mine, which is now a volatile and difficult environment.

- If there was a recovery option, if it did go ahead, there would be some 600 acts or processes that a team would go through that could trigger a risk to life. One mistake could have fatal consequences.

- And there is also the risk of another fire and of entrapment.

Those are some very real risks indeed.

For the families of the 29 men, they’ve had almost four years of unimaginable loss, pain and distress. And still nothing.

But the question in its rawest and most unemotive form is this: should you risk life to recover the dead? In the case of the volatile Pike River Mine, it seems the answer is no.

So what happens now? What should happen? Well, only the families of the men can decide that. Should the men be memorialised? If so, how? And how can the families get a greater degree of access to the location of the mine so they can be close to their men?

One day, I suspect, a recovery might be possible. Maybe technology or changing conditions in the mine may allow the families to give their men a final goodbye.

But it’s a desperately sad time for the coast, as they approach November 19 – the fourth anniversary of the day so many lives were lost and so many lives were changed forever.