Are The Coal Mines Cursed This Year?

[TexasStooge]

Roof collapses at Ky. mine; one killed

PIKEVILLE, Ky. – Part of the roof collapsed Tuesday at a coal mine in eastern Kentucky, killing one miner, a state official said.

The rock fall occurred about 900 feet inside the Maverick Mining Co. LLC mine in Pikeville, near the Virginia line, said Chuck Wolfe, spokesman for the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing.

Wolfe said Tuesday night the miner who was killed was the only person harmed. The miner was identified as Cornelius Yates, 44.

Suzy Bohnert, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, said federal officials were on the scene.

Wolfe said a nine-person rescue crew was sent to the mine when the accident was reported shortly after 3 p.m. EST.

A person who answered the phone at Maverick Mining in Pikeville declined comment.

Last week, 12 miners died after an explosion in a coal mine in West Virginia.

[alicia-w]

Coal mines are cursed every year. With all of the technology available these days, this work needs to be done by robots, not human beings.

[gtalum]

Yeah, people are killed in coal mines every year. If the explosion hadn't happened last week and killed those 12 miners, this particular incident probably wouldn't have mad ebig news outsid eof the region.

As long as the unions control the mining industry, robots will never take over the human work that remains. Mines already use far fewer workers than they used to. People go into it knowing the dangers.

[HurricaneGirl]

Very sad news..

[TexasStooge]

Mexico mine explosion traps 66

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico (AP) — A gas explosion Sunday at a coal mine in northern Mexico trapped 66 miners below ground and left 12 hospitalized with burns and broken bones, officials said.

The trapped miners had a limited supply of oxygen and their lives were in extreme danger, said Ruben Escudero Chavez, director of the Grupo Industrial Minera Mexico, a private company which owns the pit.

The explosion occurred before dawn at the mine near the town of Sabinas, 85 miles southwest of Eagle Pass on the Mexico-U.S. border, Escudero said.

The mine is about 985 feet below ground, he said.

Daniel Romo of Coahuila state's emergency services said the injured miners were being treated for burns and broken bones.

"Their lives are not in danger," he said.

Romo said they did not know how long it would take to reach the miners trapped underground.

Last month, 14 miners died in two separate accidents at mines in West Virginia. Two men died in a fire Jan. 21 at a mine in Melville, nearly three weeks after 12 men died after an explosion near Tallmansville.

In Canada last month, 72 potash miners walked away from an underground fire and toxic smoke after being locked down overnight in airtight chambers packed with enough oxygen, food and water for several days.

[alicia-w]

A February report on mine safety regulation by USA Today found that complicated federal statutes and unvigorous Mine Safety and Health Administration enforcement have resulted in a structure of civil fines almost guaranteed not to deter dangerous conditions. The largest-ever MSHA fine (for a 2001 incident with 13 deaths) was $605,400 (as compared to, for example, the FCC's 2004 fine of CBS for the brief image of Janet Jackson's breast at the Super Bowl, which was $3.5 million). One attorney who represents coal companies claimed that fines are largely irrelevant to safety: "I really don't think any responsible mine operator makes any decision about safety based on civil penalties." [USA Today, 2-10-06]

That's got to make you think, doesnt it?

[CajunMama]

I wonder how many mine incidents there are a year that weren't reported by the national media. It seems to me that the media hops on board the latest tragedy and then that's all you hear about. It's happened with tsunami....every earthquake thereafter made national news. There are other incidents also but i'm drawing a blank.

[alicia-w]

you cant help but think about how oppressed people are usually victimized by corporations cutting corners to increase their profits. you dont hear about CEOs getting injured or killed in industrial accidents.

[alicia-w]

you cant help but think about how oppressed people are usually victimized by corporations cutting corners to increase their profits. you dont hear about CEOs getting injured or killed in industrial accidents.