Pike River ~ Coal Mine!

[Michael Alexander]

For some strange reason this mine disaster touches me more than the Chilean Miners story.

LINK: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/pike-river-miners/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=1503001

[Michael Alexander]

How come there was only one way in and out of this mine?

The mines in ZA have at least two entrances .....

LINK: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10689566

[Michael Alexander]

This story is still getting to me, following it closely

What I don't understand, is in this day of modern tech, could'nt they put a guy in one of those bombproof suits, rubberised and sent him into the mine within the first 24 hours of this 1st explosion....

After the 2nd explosion this morning, 4 days later, the chances of anyone surviving is virtually nil.......


Surely there must have been a quicker way tho get to those guys....

Was the ventilation not up to scratch in the mine?

[SandyB]

Questions ,,, answers  .. Mike ,,  its indeed a sad story ,,, 

[Cheleen Koekemoer(Pretorius)]

Sad indeed.  All over the papers here.  I hope and pray that by some miracle there will be survivors....had tears watching the news last night...hearing one of the miners dad talking to the press...."I was supposed to go before him".  I'm trying to immagine myself how he is feeling, but can't seem to come to terms with it and find myself being reary just thinking about it.  It can happen to any parent/person.  I surely don't want my kids to pass away before I do.  I think this is a shock to the whole world and lots of prayers are going out to them.

[henniek]

About the entrance of the mine . We are half a world away frim New Zealand  , but from what I can make out , The " D.O.C "  or Department of conservation would not allow mining on protected land . But eventually gave the permit  . As from what I can gather is that the mining was to disturb as little of nature as possible . The company then made one entrance only . I believe there were some disputes about the ventilation fans disturbing the scenery .

[Uwe Leube]

I work at a number of underground coal mines in Australia. The initial gas explosion isn't what kills - it is the following explosion where billions of coal dust particles ignite causing a coal dust explosion. this is the big one. Those miners would probably all have been dead after the first explosion, and sending people in afterwards in that risky atmosphere would be criminal. I have been told that the ventilation fans were underground - so probably put out of action immediately. Apparently no gas monitoring equipment on site - this is a legal requirement in Australia which means they can monitor any changes. The general manager on site was manager at a site I worked at and I got to know him and respect his judgement - a very capable man, probably had his hands tied by those above him!?.

[Michael Alexander]

One would have thought they would have had gas monitoring equipment given the tales one reads about that this mine had a record of dangerous gasses....

I just hope that those poor buggers went quickly and without any pain...