Why Chile's Mining Rescue Grabbed Worldwide Attention

Mining is a dangerous occupation, carried on in narrow dark places deep in the earth's bowels by tough, hard-working people. Mining disasters rarely end with good news. The extraordinary effort made at Chile's San Jose mine that resulted in the rescue of all 33 miners and six rescue workers riveted our attention because it was technically difficult, there were many, many opportunities for missteps, until the last rescue worker returned to the surface there were no guarantees and it was an unprecedented event.

I often bemoan the media's obsessive inability to cover more than one story at a time. On Wednesday I checked in on the story throughout the day, rejoiced as the miners began to reach the surface and sighed in relief when the last rescue worker was once again safely above-ground.

In April 2010 no survivors were found and 29 miners died in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. It was the worst U. S. mine disaster in 40 years. The explosion came in the wake of eight citations of the mine during the preceding 12 months for methane-related mine safety violations. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/10/us/10westvirginia.html

On August 6, 2007 six miners were killed as the result of a catastrophic coal outburst at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah. Ten days later, three rescue works died in another coal outburst and rescue operations ceased. The U. S. Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) subsequently fined the mine operator (Genwal Resources, Inc.) $1.64 million, citing violations that "directly contributed to the deaths of six miners... ." The operator was cited for 11 additional, noncontributory violations. Engineering consultant Agapito Associates Inc. was fined $220,000 for faulty analysis of the mine's design. http://www.msha.gov/MEDIA/PRESS/2008/NR080724.asp

Coal mining, with its vulnerability to catastrophic explosions is especially dangerous. In addition to the West Virginia accident last April also saw an accident in China's Shanxi province in which 153 miners were trapped when an underground pit flooded. Most were rescued. But in another province 40 were killed in an underground explosion. By some estimates China loses thousands of miners to accidents every year. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1978668,00.html

So witnessing the spectacular rescue of 33 men who had been trapped 2300 feet under the earth's surface for 69 days was an intense, memorable experience we can only hope may somehow, someway improve the odds for all miners.