Hope fades for 12 missing coal miners in Ukraine

[Dogmudgeon]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL105236020080610?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0">Hope fades for 12 missing coal miners in Ukraine

YENAKIYEVO, Ukraine, June 10 (Reuters) - Rescuers have little chance of finding alive 12 miners missing after a gas explosion at a Ukrainian colliery, officials said on Tuesday.

Twenty-four men were brought to the surface on Monday -- more than 24 hours after the blast shattered installations and blocked shafts at the Karl Marx pit in the Donbass coalfield. One man was found dead and four were seriously hurt with burns.

...

"I do not want to make any predictions, but I would say that the chances are minimal. But there always is hope," Turchynov told reporters.

Nine of the men, he said, were on their way to the surface in an elevator when the blast hit them full force at a depth of 200 metres, sending the cage cascading back down the shaft.

The other three, he said, had been about 1,000 metres below ground, where the explosion occurred after levels of methane had shot up beyond dangerous levels. All of them were threatened by rising water which teams were unable to pump out of the mine.

...

They also have their own official page at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Ukraine_coal_mine_collapse">2008 Ukraine coal mine collapse

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[Zachstar]

1. Very sad. Hopefully it was quick or they will be rescued.

I have lots of respect for miners.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. It doesn't look good

This is even getting hard to find in the news feeds. Even the day it happened, it was only picked up by Reuters.

They still haven't been found, and since the explosion was caused by high levels of methane, their chances are extremely slim. At this point, most of the prayers being said are probably that they died quickly.

My (Irish immigrant) great grandfather worked in the coal mines in upstate Pennsylvania, and two great uncles of mine worked in mines in Ukraine before the 1905 revolution. The stories they told were virtually identical. (In fact, a large number of Eastern European coal miners worked in Ohio and the Midwest, where they were called "Hunkies"; the word "Honkey" may have come from the word the African-Americans -- who moved up the Mississippi river to resettle in the same poverty-hit areas -- used for them. The word "hunk," for a large, strong man, probably has a similar Midwestern background.)

Up until the 1960s, 50-100 thousand men (and quite a few women, too) died in the world's coal mines each year. (Even today, I think the number is around 5,000 per year.) The change to an oil-based economy was a bigger revolution than we can comprehend today.

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[Zachstar]

3. And coal use is growing rapidly meaning even long nonprofitable mines can reopen.

That is why I hope a new effective source of raw energy can come online soon. The idea of 1 new coal plant per week for the next 5-6 years is one of depressing thought.

And more people will be hurt and harmed as they scrape for more coal.