65 Mexican coal miners trapped in mine.

[NNadir]

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico - A gas buildup in a northern Mexico coal mine triggered a pre-dawn explosion Sunday, trapping at least 65 coal miners underground with a limited supply of oxygen. Emergency officials were tunneling through the debris to rescue them.

At least eight miners who had been near the mine's exit when the explosion occurred were rescued and were hospitalized with burns and broken bones.

The trapped miners were in extreme danger, said Ruben Escudero, director of Grupo Industrial Minera Mexico, which owns the mine. The company is a subsidiary of mining giant Grupo Mexico.

A statement by the National Miners' Union said 65 people were trapped below the surface, but Escudero said there were 66 miners still underground.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060220/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_mine_explosion

[Dead_Parrot]

1. Update: no-one cares.

If they were mining uranium, that would be different.
:(

[Nihil]

3. Not a prime time candidate

Now if it was a badly-run American coalmine then the networks would
be interviewing everyone under the sun.

(I think it is less to do with the extracted substance than the
location of the event but the end result is sadly the same.)

[Dead_Parrot]

4. Correction: Not Baptists... nt

[NNadir]

5. Location, location, location, but fuel, fuel, fuel too.

These Mexican coal miners are just a few of the International Coal Miners ignored by the American media and by the American people as well.

About 6,000 Chinese Coal miners are killed annually:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0126/p07s02-woap.html

Of course the number of people killed by the air pollution associated with coal is much greater.

But the type of energy counts very much too. Everyone can talk on and on about the 31 deaths at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Chernobyl. Every few weeks or so, someone posts the fraudulent pictures posted by "Elena" the biker queen on her trip through the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, and it always generates huge interest.

Meanwhile, in the the very same country, coal mining deaths are a regular occurence. Here's one event in 2000 when 80 miners died:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/675287.stm

A side bar gives a recent graphic focusing on the last few years of the 1990's in the Ukraine:

May 1999 - 50 miners burnt to death
April 1998 - methane explosion killed 63
Nearly 130 have died so far this year
1999: About 280 died
1998: About 360 died
1997: About 260 died
1996: Nearly 340 died
400,000 coal workers
More than 200 mines
Average wage: $100

If there had been 5 people killed at a nuclear plant anywhere, but especially in the Ukraine it would be international news filled with links.

These Ukrainian miners are ignored because their deaths aren't sexy.

[Nihil]

6. True

I suppose that there would have been much more response if the
65 miners had been "potentially affected by radiation" or had
been digging to "feed the US nuclear power industry" but as they
were just trapped and being suffocated for the sake of carbonised
trees then it doesn't carry the same weight. It falls into the
general "shit happens" bucket regardless of the fact that many
readers of this news are (indirectly) profiting from these deaths.

[Dead_Parrot]

7. but 49 die from radiation

and it's the end of the world (at least for the nuclear industry). What gets me is how the 49 turns into "millions" according to some people. Too weird for words.

[NNadir]

8. Like clockwork.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=115&topic_id=43344&mesg_id=43344

[IronLionZion]

9. Dying slowly from cancer is sexy?

eh whatever,

I'm still a supporter of nuclear energy though. Just not in my backyard. Let's stick it in Utah or some other radically right wing state.

[NNadir]

10. Yeah actually. Dying from radiation sickness or radio induced cancer is

cool.

Dying in a coal mine is forgettable.

There are lots of websites about Chernobyl, almost none will be built for these poor mexican fellows; by the way it doesn't sound like they have much of a change.

Sad.

By the way, I'm a supporter of nuclear energy in my back yard. I would love the tax revenue, the clean air, and its sort of a talisman for keeping coal away.

Great stuff.

[IronLionZion]

11. Well my backyard had a partial core meltdown in 1979

scared the shit out of people. And we're a major coal state. We cared when our miners were trapped 4 years back. We saved them.

I can see coal mines and some pretty spiffy windmills from my house. In fact, I fucking hate coal mines because nobody knows where they are. They make for very shaky foundations to build stuff on. And nasty stuff comes out when they flood. But I like the windmills.

[NNadir]

12. Everyone on earth is aware that you were scared.

Everyone on earth will forget or ignore that these people died.

That's the difference.

No one in your major coal state was even injured by Three Mile Island, yet it plays like the world's greatest tragedy. It's not even close.

[FlaNoKerry]

2. This is terrible....

But is is just as bad here..

[NNadir]

13. Completely forgotten, of course.

[Dead_Parrot]

14. zzzzzzz

Sorry, did you say something? :boring:

[NNadir]

15. Nothing important.

[Dead_Parrot]

16. That's alright then

Hey look! nuclear terrorists!

[NNadir]

17. Where?

Under the dead miners maybe?

[Dead_Parrot]

18. Hey, if it keeps people entertained...

These poor bastards are going to die without anyone even noticing. How fucking sad is that?

Oh look! Jenifer and Brad!

[NNadir]

19. The state of these human beings can't be found on CNN's website.

The latest update I could find on their site was from two days ago.

They still think that this is worth mention over on BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4730846.stm

Still no word. It looks increasingly like all these families have suffered horrible losses.

Maybe we could generate interest in their fate by claiming that there's radon in the mine.

[NNadir]

20. Left for dead.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060225/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_mine_explosion_70;_ylt=AthBC_PR0oJDg8GRCcBHvpi9IxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--

Nobody gives a shit.

What a surprise.

[NNadir]

21. The miners, now assumed dead, get media mention.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060226/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_mine_explosion

[Nihil]

22. Am I just being (red-wine) cynical here?

> In a statement Friday, Grupo Mexico said it will give the 65 miners
> - if they were found alive — the equivalent of 10 years of
> their annual salary, or about $75,000. A company spokesman said if
> the miners are found dead, the families would receive the payment.

This sounds great until you recall the earlier statement that ...

> {The rescue party} were ordered to stop their efforts Friday, however,
> amid concerns the air inside the mine, ... put their lives in danger.

I suspect this means that the miners will never be "found dead" and so
the families will merely receive a "STFU" payment instead of the above
figure.

[NNadir]

23. Or maybe they just won't find the miners in any state.

Then they won't have to pay anything.

[NNadir]

24. Does anyone know if they ever found the bodies?

Anybody care?

[Dead_Parrot]

25. No, and no.

I think they've decided that they may never be recovered, although only the relatives seem to remember anything happening. The world has moved on, as usual.

[NNadir]

26. To my surprise, I actually found a New York Times article on the subject

of these now entombed dead men:

SAN JUAN DE LAS SABINAS, Mexico, March 2 — There is no hope at the mine here now, only the anguished, wrung-out ache to recover the bodies of their loved ones, to put an end to the waiting, the praying and the torturous talk of miracles.

Kenneth Ely, a mine safety expert who is a consultant for the operators of the Sabinas mine, met Wednesday with relatives of the dead.

Eleven days after an explosion sealed 65 miners in an airless coal shaft here, the mine operators and their American consultants are no closer to finding the men than they were last week. Methane gas has filled the mine, making it impossible to excavate without risking a second explosion and more deaths, mine officials said.

The federal government has declared the miners dead because air samples from the shaft were found to be lethally poisonous — and recriminations have begun.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/03/international/americas/03mexico.html?ex=1299042000&en=7e33dd82d11ffe6a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

It is to hard find out about this case though. If only these men were radioactive, the world would remember them, and their cases would be on the tips of everyone's tongues for decades. People could say "SAN JUAN DE LAS SABINAS," and everyone would know what you are talking about.