33 Miners Saved in Chile / 37 Miners Dead in China

[pinboy3niner]

Which one did you hear about? Apparently fearing a backlash due to the back-to-back timing and starkly different results of the two mining accidents (as well as China's atrocious record on mine safety), Chinese authorities heavily censored news about its mine explosion Saturday. There were reports in the MSM outside china--brief reports of the few details China funneled out through its state news service, Xinhua.

After its brief report that the last five trapped miners were found dead, bringing the death toll to 37, all stories about the event apparently were scrubbed from Xinhua's website. When I searched for any remaining report, all I found was a single link. A single, broken link. Still, the UK Telegraph's Malcolm Moore managed to get out this report from Shanghai:

Chinese anger at 37 coal mine deaths
By Malcolm Moore, Shanghai
Published: 1:50PM BST 19 Oct 2010

Thirty seven miners trapped after an explosion at a Chinese coal mine have been confirmed dead, prompting comparisons to the Chilean mine rescue and triggering anger at China's inability to ensure mine safety.
<snip>

There was no rescue equipment in the tunnels, no food or water and most of the time, the safety zones were filled with scrap metal and debris. Also, the ventilation fans were not strong enough to circulate the air sufficiently," said Chen Jiaguo, one of the survivors, to the Beijing News.
<snip>

Chinese censors, keen to play down the incident, removed all but 700 out of 24,000 comments on Netease, and restricted the news of the deaths to short bulletins.
<snip>

Although China's mine safety has improved from the low point of 2002, when 7,000 deaths were recorded, the death toll has begun to tick up again and reached 2,600 last year.



Although China's mine safety has improved from the low point of 2002, when 7,000 deaths were recorded, the death toll has begun to tick up again. Photo: EPA


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8072975/Chinese-anger-at-37-coal-mine-deaths.html

Associated Press
A young relative grieves for a miner who was killed by an explosion in a state-run coal mine in China.


Previous thread on the mine explosion in China:
Hope Fades for China's Trapped Miners (30 confirmed dead, 7 more trapped)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9340415

______________________________________________________________________________________________

A timely blast from the past:

The Bells of Rhymney

Oh what will you give me?
Say the sad bells of Rhymney.
Is there hope for the future?
Cry the brown bells of Merthyr.
Who made the mine owner?
Say the black bells of Rhondda.
And who robbed the miner?
Cry the grim bells of Blaina.

They will plunder will-nilly,
Cry the bells of Caerphilly.
They have fangs, they have teeth,
Shout the loud bells of Neath.
Even God is uneasy,
Say the moist bells of Swansea.
And what will you give me?
Say the sad bells of Rhymney.

Throw the vandals in court,
Say the bells of Newport.
All will be well if, if, if,
Cry the green bells of Cardiff.
Why so worried, sisters why?
Sang the silver bells of Wye.
And what will you give me?
Say the sad bells of Rhymney?

Words from "Gwalia Deserta" by Idris Davies
Music by Pete Seeger
© 1959 & 1964 Ludlow Music, Inc.

__________________

The Byrds - The Bells of Rhymney (2:33)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8gBysv5gYQ

__________________

Idris Davies

Idris Davies (born 6 January 1905 Rhymney, died 6 April 1953), was a Welsh poet, originally writing in Welsh, but later

writing exclusively in English. He was the only poet to cover significant events in the early 20th century in the South

Wales Valleys and the South Wales coalfield, and from a perspective literally at the coalface.

He is now best known for "Bells of Rhymney", a poem about the failure of the 1926 UK General Strike and the Great

Depression in the United Kingdom and their effects on the South Wales coal mining valleys.... ....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idris_Davies


R.I.P. :patriot:

[Starry Messenger]

1. RIP k & r

[stuntcat]

2. I did hear of this. once :(

ONE report I heard on NPR, no details, just 3 or 4 sentences.

I wondered sadly how many tv-watchers would be enthralled with their search or rescue. What happened in Chile was touching as hell, don't get me wrong, but people were all "well this gives me a new attitude about life and what's important!" That just made me ill.. I mean do they not realize that over 40,000 people starve to death every single day? If it was on their prime-time tv's maybe they'd care, but it's not.

[pinboy3niner]

3. The sketchy reporting seems due to Chinese censorship

With no foreign press on-scene, the world press was dependent on Xinhua, China's state news organ--which was giving out only the briefest of reports, with few details, until they eventually dropped all mention of the story and scrubbed all earlier reports from the site.

[maddezmom]

4. thanks for posting this....the stark differences in the reporting of these incidents is a travesty

lives are lost but even in our global media driven world, some lives seem more important than others due to the transparency of the gov'ts. :(

[pinboy3niner]

5. Did you see the story about Chinese mgrs. shooting protesting miners in Zambia?

An excerpt from that report:

Madinda Siamubotu, a shooting victim, said the miners had been ordered to stop mining because enough coal had been produced and were told they would go without pay for days.

He said when workers gathered to protest the pay cut, the managers walked out of their offices with shotguns and opened fire. A witness said miners had thrown rocks before the shooting started.

Rayford Mbulu, the president of the Mineworkers Union of Zambia, said the incident illustrated the reckless disregard for employees at Chinese facilities.
<snip>

China's companies fall under near constant criticism from unions, opposition politicians and ordinary people over what they say are the unsafe working conditions and low wages offered to locals by the Chinese-run firms, the broadcaster said.

DU thread w/link to full story:
Backlash as miners shot by Chinese overseers (in Zambia)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9354187

This has gotten some attention, but it's not a big story because none of the wounded miners died. Still, it is not unrelated to the Chinese mine disaster and the terrible safety and working conditions in Chinese-run mining operations--even those outside China. Shooting their own miners kind of speaks for itself about China's treatment of mine workers.

:(:(:(

[pinboy3niner]

6. ...