|
|
 |
You are > Home > 115 pulled alive in China crisis
|
Thursday, April 15, 2010
115 pulled alive in China crisis
BY FINBARR SLATTERY
IT isn’t often that you hear good news from China but last week the world heard some positive news from there for a change.
It was heartening to hear that 115 men were pulled out alive from a coalmine after being trapped in the darkness of a flooded mine for eight days and nights.
The rescue is described as nothing less that a miracle and when you think about what happened that’s a fair description.
Here is a fascinating extract from a first-hand description of the rescue as reported by Jane Macartney (The Times, April 6).
"Some were strong enough to walk almost unaided to the lifts that brought them out of shafts where they had been entombed since water gushed through the colliery just after noon. One miner even clapped his coaldust-covered hands together as he was brought out on a stretcher and gripped the hands of rescuers and officials who reached out to touch him. Others, suffering from hypothermia, dehydration and infections, were rushed to a line of ambulances."
David Feickert, a coalmine safety adviser to the Chinese government said: "This is probably one of the most amazing rescues in the history of mining anywhere.
Luo Lin, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, simply declared: "It is a miracle."
As medics took care of those who had been freed, rescue workers pressed on with scouring the flooded tunnels of the Wangjialing mine in search of 38 men still missing hundreds of metres below the surface.
Mining is certainly a hazardous occupation. Last week there was a mining disaster in Montcoal, West Virgina. Here, a blast possibly caused by methane gas which is highly combustible occurred during a shift change a thousand feet underground – 25 dead and 3 missing, making it the deadliest mining disaster since a Utah shaft explosion in 1987 killed 27.
The rescue in China could help restore confidence in an industry fraught with danger.
"A decade ago as many as 10,000 Chinese miners were killed each year. Last year the total was 2,631 – a fall of 584 from 2008, which amounts to about seven men a day, compared with 13 a day in 2006," Jane Macartney wrote.
"The publicity surrounding the latest accident, and the deployment of at least 5,000 rescue workers and support teams, as well as police and the military to maintain order, highlights the will among parts of the government to try to improve the reputation of the mines.
The rescue may restore a little confidence in one of the world’s most notorious industries."
Here’s hoping that the rescue will help restore confidence in the workers employed in this hazardous occupation.
Main News Page |
Previous Page
|
|
|
|
