A “bump”
The story of the miners killed in the West Virginia mine accident this week would have been sad in any case, but it’s made macabre by the terrible miscommunication that led the families to believe for several hours that 12 of the 13 miners had been found alive, rather than just the lone surviver. Every time I walked through the lobby of my office building today, the USA Today headline "Alive" jumped out at me.
As it happens, for several weeks I’ve been listening to the audiobook of Melissa Fay Greene’s Last Man Out: The Story of the Springhill Mine Disaster while I exercise. I picked it up a while back at a library sale, knowing nothing of the disaster, but willing to give anything Greene wrote a try having read Praying for Sheetrock. She describes the terrible collapse of an entire mine that happened in Nova Scotia in 1958 and the experiences of two small groups of miners that miraculously survived the "bump." They were trapped underground without light, food, or water for a week before the miners on the surface were able to dig down to them.
Listening to a book on tape slows it down for me, and makes the images linger. I know that mines have changed a great deal over the last half century (although maybe not enough), but I can’t help imagining the scene in Tallmansville as much like that described by Greene in Spring Hill.
My thoughts and prayers are with the families.
January 5th, 2006 at 9:12 am
Oh, that’s one I need to read, then. I love Melissa Fay Greene. The Temple Bombing is quite good, too.
Is it the uncertainty, the built-in narrative suspense that make mine disasters capture the media’s imagination in a way that regular on-the-job morbidity and mortality does not?
January 5th, 2006 at 9:20 am
It is quite wonderful what a vigorous worker safety agency can do. Things could be better here, no question, but, anytime you are looking for a snapshot of how much better things are here than elsewhere:
“Coal mining deaths range from 0.009 per million tonnes of coal mined in Australia through 0.034 in USA to 4 in China and 7/Mt in Ukraine. China¹s total death toll from coal mining averages well over 5000 per year – official figures give 5300 in 2000, 5670 in 2001 and 7200 in 2003 and 6027 in 2004; Ukraine’s coal mine death toll is over two hundred per year (eg. 1999: 274, 1998: 360, 1995: 339, 1992: 459).
In Australia 281 coal miners have been killed in 18 major disasters since 1902, and there have been 112 deaths in NSW mines since 1979, though the Australian coal mining industry is considered the safest in the world.”
“China Mine Deaths Up, Despite Safety Vows – AP
By Xiao Qiang :: 2005-12-13, 02:49 PM :: Economy
From AP, via Forbes.com:
China’s media reported Tuesday that 206 more workers were killed in mines as of Dec. 11 than in the same period last year, despite repeated promises by the government to crackdown on rampant safety violations in the industry.
The China Daily newspaper reported that 5,491 coal miners were killed in 2,939 accidents by Dec. 11 – 206 more than in the same period in 2004.”
January 5th, 2006 at 11:46 am
Have I ever told you I know Melissa? She’s a friend. Did you ever read her NY Times Mag article about the AIDS Orphans in Africa, it was a life changer for me. I got in touch with her and we’ve been friends ever since. I got her son Seth an internship out here last summer. She has a pretty amazing story herself. She’s quite a woman. She has seven kids. Four bio, three adopted. Helen, she adopted from Ethiopia at age five. Sol, she adopted also from Ethiopia at age 10! TEN!!!! Jesse she adopted from Eastern Europe. They are all wonderful kids and thriving in the home she and her darling husband have created.
I also LOVED Temple Bombing.
January 5th, 2006 at 11:48 am
PS You can read the article she wrote for The NY Times by going to my blog and typing in “layla house” in the search bar.