Jim Walter Resources Inc. officials have identified two miners who collapsed in the Brookwood No. 7 mine last night. James Chaney, 53, of Berry died in the mine. Milton Etheridge, 59, of McCalla was found collapsed and was taken by helicopter to UAB Hospital after his rescue this morning. He was listed in good condition at the hospital this afternoon. “They each had decades of coal-mining experience,” said Dennis Hall, spokesman for Jim Walter Resources. Jim Walter officials also responded to a report by a federal mine safety official that low oxygen was to blame for Chaney’s death. “We don’t know how anyone could come to that conclusion at this early stage of the investigation,” Hall said. Two other miners on duty and three members of the mine rescue team showed signs of heat exhaustion during the rescue, which involved about 20 people at one point this morning. An additional three miners became ill today while working on the ventilation system after the rescue effort, a a company spokesman said. The mine’s tunnels occupy an area of 10 to 15 square miles.

*

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/11/post_242.html

HAZARD, Ky. (AP) — State officials say a crane accident at a mining site in southeastern Kentucky has fatally wounded a worker. Energy and Environment Cabinet spokeswoman Ricki Gardenhire says 37-year-old Leslie D. Trent of Hazard was struck by a crane arm at around 6 p.m. EST Monday. Trent was working for New York-based Frontier-Kemper Constructors at a site owned by Perry County Coal Corp. Gardenhire says Trent and another worker were changing equipment on a crane when the arm fell several feet and landed on them. Trent was flown to the University of Tennessee Hospital in Knoxville, where he later died. The other worker suffered a severe cut on the head and was taken to University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington. His condition was not known Tuesday afternoon.

*

http://wztv.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.ky/20d465ac-www.fox17.com.shtml

CHANGSHA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) — Six people were killed in a coal mine accident in central China’s Hunan Province Sunday morning, local authorities said. The accident happened at about 10 a.m. at Guojiawan Coal Mine, a private mine in Chenxi County, Huaihua City. Two miners were saved, a provincial work safety supervision bureau official said. The number of miners working underground when the accident happened is yet to be known. The cause of the accident is being investigated.

Relatives of miners who were killed in a gas explosion cry outside the entrance of Xinxing coal mine in Hegang in Heilongjiang province on Nov. 23. (Andy Wong/Associated Press)

The death toll from the latest mine disaster in China is now up to at least 104, and grieving family members on Monday demanded answers from officials. The official Xinhua news agency said four more miners are missing and feared dead. Roughly 500 miners were working underground on Saturday at the Xinxing coal mine in Hegang city in Heilongjiang province when a gas explosion occurred.

The death toll is the highest for China’s mining industry in two years.

The mine belongs to state-owned Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group.

On Monday at the gates of the company’s offices, family members demanded answers from the company. They were were later escorted by police and security into an office.

“Why haven’t they told us anything?” said Liu Shujiu, whose 38-year-old husband Zhang Shulai was among the victims. She broke down in tears as she sat in a chair.

“We had to hear from others at the mine,” she said.

A mine official, who would not give his name out of fear of government reprisal, admitted that the delay in giving families news about the accident was a mistake.

“In this, we were wrong,” said the official.

The latest blast highlights the safety problems in China’s mining industry. Through the first six months of the year, 1,175 people had died in mine accidents, although that was down more than 18 per cent from same period last year.

The Chinese government has shut down about 1,000 smaller mines, many of them illegal. That move has helped cut down on fatalities.

*

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/11/23/china-coal-mine-toll.html

HEGANG, Heilongjiang, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) — Struggling hard to hold back her tears, Zhang Xueyan looked at her watch every several minutes. “I could give up anything, if only he could be back safe and sound,” said Zhang, wife of a miner missing in the fatal blast at the Xinxing Coal Mine in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province. Eighty-seven miners have died and 21 others were missing after the blast.

Zhang’s husband, 35-year-old Li Guojun has worked at the mine for five years. He was on night shift at around 2:30 a.m. Saturday when the accident happened. A total of 528 miners were working underground, and 420 managed to escape.

Zhang hurried to the mine on Saturday morning at the news, gazing at rescuers bustling around.

Li is the only child of his parents, who are in their 70s. Zhang dared not to tell them the sad news.

When her eight-year-old girl asked when dad would come back, she had to hide her sorrow and tell her “soon.”

“My daughter cannot live without father,” she began to weep.

Zhang said during the past 40 hours, she kept looking at her watch. Her heart ached with the past of each second.

“He (Li) is the supporting pillar of my family…If anything bad must happen, let the victim be me.”

By Sunday morning, death toll from the accident has risen to a staggering 87, while more than 240 rescuers in 19 group have been sent into the shaft to look for the missing.

Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang, who arrived at the scene Saturday afternoon, urged all-out efforts to save the trapped miners and to protect rescuers from secondary disasters.

In addition, Zhang ordered to set up a State Council investigation team and also urged officials in other regions to learn lessons from the accident and step up work safety measures.

He also visited the hospital Saturday afternoon, urging medical workers to do their utmost to save the injured miners.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have also made instructions on the rescue work.

Zhang Zhenlong, assistant chief engineer of the state-owned Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group’s subsidiary in Hegang City, went into the shaft hours after the accident.

His eyes red in tiredness, Zhang said they have almost searched all the working areas of the miners.

“Maybe the 21 people are not in the working area or buried by coal,” he said.

Zhang noted that the blast didn’t result in much damage to the laneways, but it crippled the ventilation system and communication facilities and the rescue work in the past a few hours was to repair the ventilation system.

“Fresh air from the outside could add more chances for survival of the trapped miners.”

He refused to estimate the survival chance of the trapped.

“We will try our utmost efforts to save each of them,” he said.

MEMORY OF SURVIVORS

Lying in the hospital affiliated to the Hegang Coal Mine group,54-year-old Yuan Shusheng still trembled in fear.

“I went into the lift immediately after the monitor underground warned of excessive gas, but before I reached the exit, shock wave from the blast lashed me out and I hence fainted until the rescuers pulled me out,” he recalled.

Another miner Fu Maofeng said he just went out of the lift when the accident occurred. Shock wave pushed him down and pebbles were poured upon him like hailstones.

Qu Zhongliang was the one who suffered most serious injuries. His face and hands were burnt and trachea was seriously injured. While doctors cleaned his wounds, he coughed out blood.

“Someone from the hospital called me Saturday morning and I got to know that my husband was injured,” said Huang Guizhen, Qu’s wife.

“Looking at his blood-covered face, I didn’t recognize him at first sight.” When doctors told her about her husband’s condition, Huang wailed.

The Xinxing Coal Mine, located over 400 km east of the provincial capital of Harbin, has an approved annual production capacity of 1.45 million tonnes.

The blast was so severe that according to a footage of the China Central Television, windows of the buildings within 20 meters of the site were all shattered.

Miners said that the monitoring equipment worked well when the accident happened and that they had received regular emergency trainings.

“I have been working in the mine for 33 years and this is the first time that I experience a blast,” said 50-year-old Wang Chaojun.

“In recent years our working condition improved, but gas is dangerous, so dangerous,” he said.

An editorial carried by the Beijing Youth Daily questioned why winters always see major deadly mine accidents.

In 2004, a blast in Xinmi of Henan killed 148.

Also in 2004, one in Tongchuan of Shaanxi killed 166.

In 2005, an explosion in Sunjiawan of Liaoning killed 214.

Earlier this year, one in Gujiao of Shanxi killed 77.

These accidents all happened between October and February.

“Lured by the lucrative winter coal market, many industries made production beyond their capacities,” the editorial said.

Li Zhanshu, governor of Heilongjiang, ordered more efforts in management of coalmines.

“We must put safety first,” he said. “Development is important, but the growth of GDP shouldn’t be achieved at the price of miners’ blood.”

*

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/22/content_12518264.htm

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang (1st R) visits an injured miner at a hospital in Hegang City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, on Nov. 21, 2009. The death toll of a gas outburst accident in a coal mine in Hegang City has risen to 42 while 66 other miners were still missing.

HARBIN, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) — A gas explosion in a coal mine in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province has killed 42 miners and left 66 missing, said Zhang Jinguang, a spokesman with the rescue headquarters. He said the gas outburst in Xinxing Coal Mine, owned by the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group, in Hegang City, happened 400 meters underground. Rescuers were still searching for the missing.

Pan Xiaowen, deputy director of the Hegang Mining Bureau Hospital, said that the hospital has taken in 29 injured miners from the accident.

“Six of them were seriously injured,” he said, adding all of the hospital’s 800 medical workers have joined in the rescue work.

Rescuers are about to go down the coal mine in Hegang City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, on Nov. 21, 2009.

Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang visited the hospital Saturday afternoon, and urged medical workers to do their utmost to save the injured miners.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have also made instructions on the rescue work.

Wang Xingang, one of the injured miners in the hospital, had injuries on the head.

The 27-year-old electrician said he was lashed out by a strong blast when he was entering the mine.

“I passed out for a while. I found I was shrouded by heavy smoke, when I regained consciousness. I groped my way out in the dark, and called for help,” he said.

Wang Chaojun, Wang Xingang’s father, a 50-year-old carpenter working in the mine for 33 years told Xinhua that the mine had never reported any accidents before.

Relatives of coal miners come to the accident site to wait for further information in the Xinxing Coal Mine owned by the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group in Hegang City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Nov. 21, 2009. (Xinhua/Fang Baoshu)

Yang Chunfeng, head nurse in the surgery department of the hospital, said she had worked for more than 12 hours to rescue the miners.

The mining company has confirmed that 528 miners were working underground, when the explosion occurred at around 2:30 a.m. Saturday. Among them, 415 have escaped the accident.

The mine is located over 400 km east of the provincial capital of Harbin.

The Hegang subsidiary of Longmei is a state-owned mining company with an annual coal output of 12 million tonnes. Its mining area has a verified coal reserve of 3 billion tonnes.

*

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/21/content_12514257_4.htm

Two miners were killed on Monday and another injured after being hit by a tree, which fell over the pit they were working in at Marudi Mountain, Deep South Rupununi, Region Nine. Dead are Carlos Fernandes, 30, of Karaudar-naua Village, South Rupunu-ni, and Silvio Domingo, 35 of Aishalton Village, also in the South Rupununi. Harves Olivia Alfred, 43, of Aishalton sustained injuries to his head and back and is hospitalized and said to be in a serious condition.

Police said yesterday that at about 11:20 on Monday, four miners were working in a mining pit at Marudi Mountain when a large tree fell over the pit resulting in three of them being hit by its branches. Fernandes and Domingo reportedly died instantly while Alfred was injured. This newspaper was told that Alfred is in a serious state and after arriving at the Lethem Hospital, he was taken across the border to a hospital in Boa Vista, Brazil. He reportedly also sustained fractured ribs and internal injuries.

Miners have recently begun flocking to the Marudi Mountain area to mine gold and there are a number of operations there. An Aishalton resident told this newspaper yesterday that the men had only left to work in the mines about a week ago. They worked at an area called Toucan. It is reportedly a Brazilian-run mine-site. The men were working when the tree fell. A fourth man, said to be a Brazilian national, escaped with a few scratches.

Marudi Mountain is some 30 miles from Aishalton, where the nearest police station is located and after the lawmen were informed, they journeyed to the area.  After conducting their investigations, the bodies of Fernandes and Domingo were taken to the Aishalton Hospital late Monday night. The two were buried in their villages’ yesterday afternoon.

Alfred, meantime, was taken by road to Lethem, about eight hours away from Aishalton. His sister, Una Michael told Stabroek News from Lethem last evening that he had only gone to the mines last week.

Domingo had only recently returned from Brazil. Another Aishalton resident had told Stabroek News that he worked in that country for many years but due to an injury sustained in a vehicular accident, he could not do “hard” work and returned and went to the mines. He resided with his father and siblings while in the community. Fernandes had also only recently returned from Brazil and went to the mines last week.

Alfred is also a farmer and has three children. Residents were shocked at the incident. Alfred is “a very hard worker and family man”, the resident said. No similar incident has been reported as occurring in that area in recent times though this newspaper was told that about ten years ago, two persons died after the pit they were working in, caved-in.

Monday’s accident is the latest of several fatal incidents that occurred at mining operations this year. Among these was the case of 56-year-old French geologists Guy Rigottier-Gois, who died in the Konawaruk backdam on April 3. He may have thought he struck gold when he took the unusual decision to enter an excavated pit during heavy rainfall to take further samples, this newspaper was told at the time. Reports said that he was in the pit doing some testing when the soil around the pit, which was loose, just caved in. He died after being trapped under the debris.

On July 3, 21-year-old miner Phillip France of Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo died shortly after a sandbank in the Mazaruni area collapsed burying him in the pit where he had been working.

On October 12, 59-year-old Leon Clarke of Hopetown Village, West Coast Berbice, a machine operator at a mine in Mahdia died at his worksite.  Police said the man was operating an excavator in a forty feet deep pit when it caved in and covered him. Employees at the site had told the man’s relatives that Clarke was operating the excavator two rocks fell on him. The first, he was able to move away with the excavator but shortly after a second rock fell and pinned him to the machine.

Apart from deaths caused by these methods, a number of drowning and vehicular accidents have cost lives in mining areas.

*

http://www.stabroeknews.com/2009/stories/11/18/two-miners-die-in-tree-fall-at-marudi-mt/

BEIJING, Nov 17 (Reuters) – A landslide in northern China has killed 23 people, all migrant workers at a nearby coal mine or members of their families, state media said on Tuesday. The landslide hit in Zhongyang county, Shanxi province late on Monday morning and buried five homes, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, though two people were pulled out alive soon after. “The victims were migrant workers at a nearby coal mine and their families. They were all natives from southwestern Yunnan province,” the report added. In September of last year, a mudslide triggered by dammed up tailings from an iron ore mine killed over 250 people in the same province. Shanxi, along with much of northern China, has been hit by unseasonably early and heavy snow and bitterly cold weather over the past few days.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSPEK206230

SHIJIAZHUANG, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) — Six miners have been confirmed dead Friday three days after a gas and coal outburst in a mine in north China’s Hebei Province, local authorities said. The six bodies were retrieved in the shaft after more than 60 hours of search, officials with the local rescue crew said. The accident happened at around 11 a.m. Tuesday at Majiagou coal mine in Tangshan City of Hebei, officials said. All the other miners working underground at the time managed to escape, they said. The local work safety administration is investigating the cause of the accident.

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/13/content_12451378.htm

Cable Miner
Cable Miner

Cable Miner Game
Cable Miner Game Description : Grab the bungie cord at the right time so you’re flung into the air to grab the gems and exit levels
How to Play Cable Miner Game? Hold Space bar to hold the cable.
Release Space bar to release from the cable.
Left and right arrow keys for directions.

Rescuers and offcials work at the Shabatai coal mine in Shizuishan City of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Nov. 10, 2009. A gas explosion occurred at 6:53 a.m. Tuesday when 19 miners were working in the coal mine. The death toll of the blast had risen to eight after two missing miners were found dead. Another 11 people were being treated in hospital after being rescued from the pit. (Xinhua/Liu Quanlong)

BEIJING, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) — Two colliery accidents Tuesday left at least eight miners dead, 11 injured and another six trapped in China, local authorities said. Eight workers were killed after a coal mine gas explosion in Shizuishan City, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region early Tuesday, said Huang Minkang, deputy director of Ningxia CoalMine Safety Bureau. The blast occurred at 6:53 a.m. Tuesday when 19 miners were working in the Shabatai coal mine, Huang said.

Rescuers work at the Shabatai coal mine in Shizuishan City of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Nov. 10, 2009. A gas explosion occurred at 6:53 a.m. Tuesday when 19 miners were working in the coal mine. The death toll of the blast had risen to eight after two missing miners were found dead. Another 11 people were being treated in hospital after being rescued from the pit. (Xinhua/Liu Quanlong)

Another 11 people were being treated in hospital after being rescued from the pit, but their conditions were unknown, Huang said. Separately, six miners were trapped in the shaft after an outburst of coal and gas at around 11 a.m. Tuesday at Majiagou coal mine in Tangshan City, north China’s Hebei Province, said an official from the city’s work safety administration. Rescuers were still searching for the six. An unspecified number of other miners working underground at the time managed to escape, said the official. Work safety officials are investigating the accidents.

Rescuers prepare to enter the pit at the Shabatai coal mine in Shizuishan City of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Nov. 10, 2009.

China saw 1,954 coal mine accidents last year which killed 3,215 people. Nearly 1,900 people died in colliery accidents in the first nine months this year, down 23.8 percent against the same period last year, the State Administration of Work Safety has said.

An injured miner is seen after rescuing form the pit at the Shabatai coal mine in Shizuishan City of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Nov. 10, 2009. The death toll of a coal mine gas explosion in northwest China Tuesday has risen to eight after two missing miners were found dead. (Xinhua/Huang Jianhui)

Thinks he's cool (but isn't)

Michael Jordan (not to be mistaken with the father of my close friend, Courtney Jordan) was a pretty good basketball player in his day. His son, Marcus Jordan…well, not so much. However, while MJ was capable of destroying Craig Ehlo by simply snapping his fingers, Marcus has proven just as capable of destroying his entire school’s shoe contract by stubbornly insisting to wear his esteemed father’s Jordan Brand: Adidas pulled its deal with the University of Central Florida after Baby Jordan (again, not to be mistaken with Harold Miner) wore his dad’s kicks in an exhibition game against NCAA power St. Leo’s earlier this week. Oh yeah, he went 0-for-3 and had one point and one assist in the game. Hardly Jordan-esque, if you ask me.

This is stupidity and typical Jordan dickheadedness at its finest. Note to Marcus Jordan: Yes, being the son of the greatest basketball player of all-time is cool and all, but you’re nobody. You wouldn’t even be on a college team if you weren’t MJ’s son, because you’re not that good at basketball. And those goggles look silly. Horace Grant is unimpressed.

The real losers, of course, are Jordan’s college teammates — they lose out on free shoes and jerseys. Some are suggesting Nike will swoop in and pick up the contract, but that’s far from official. If I were a UCF player, I’d give Baby Jordan the preferential treatment he wants via a punch to the face.

LEBEL-SUR-QUEVILLON, Que. — A grieving relative says three dead miners drowned in such frigid water that their bodies were frozen blocks of ice by the time they were recovered. After a frenzied rescue effort, their bodies were found three days after they were were trapped when the northern Quebec mine flooded Friday. Rescue workers had frantically pumped water from hundreds of metres below the ground in the hope of finding the men alive.

But Pietro Bollini said Tuesday there’s no way the three men – including his brother, Domenico – could have survived for very long.

He said rescue workers did their best but that the water was so cold the men must have died within minutes.

“Submerged in water like that? Forget it. They were blocks of ice,” Bollini said in an interview in Lebel-sur-Quevillon, a town near the mine.

“When they took them out yesterday, they were frozen from head to toe. . . Fifteen minutes in there, and you’re dead.”

Marc Guay, Bruno Goulet and Bollini were doing repair work in the mine for Metanor Resources when it flooded. Two of them worked for Metanor while Guay was an employee of mining contractor Montali.

Bollini’s father, Italo, moved to Quebec from Italy in 1957 and was a miner for 30 years. He said the worst injury he ever suffered was a broken foot.

“I was luckier than him (Domenico),” he said after travelling to the scene of the tragedy.

“It was an accident that wasn’t meant to happen. Something went wrong somewhere. I don’t know what. I wasn’t there.”

Domenico had been a miner for 21 years.

Metanor issued a statement Tuesday expressing its deep sadness over the tragedy and promised its full support to grieving families and authorities now conducting an investigation.

“The circumstances of the accident are presently unknown,” Metanor said. “The company is working closely with the authorities.”

Provincial police and Quebec’s workers’ safety commission are both investigating.

Police are trying to determine whether criminal negligence may have played a role in the tragedy.

The victims were making repairs in the mine when the accident occurred. The mine is not currently operating and the men travelled down an elevator shaft to a level that would not normally have been flooded.

When workers above ground lost contact with the men, they brought the elevator lift back to the surface. It was empty.

But because its overhead hatch was open, they were hopeful the men might have escaped and swum to an air pocket.

In their rescue effort, crews pumped water from 500 metres below the Earth’s surface. Before discovering the bodies all they found was equipment – like helmets and a lantern.

The incident appeared to rattle investors in Metanor, who initially sent the junior gold miner’s stock plunging 21.6 per cent in the first day of trading after the accident – but much of the loss was recovered in trading Tuesday.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jp_5QUu9zon9RIjYsQTRaMJ7b35g

A selection of pictures that were never used, left to rot on a hard drive and passed over for an alternative viewpoint, maybe they were too arty or  unusual but for one reason  or another they were passed over and another was used in its place.

So here they are, finally allowed their time to shine, some are personal favourites, each one was taken for a publication and was judged to be less worthy than another of my images.

Sea King

In my opinion the best shot of a Sea King helicopter taken at RAF Shawbury

Another image was chosen instead, presumably due to its more recognisable viewpoint and amount of helicopters present in the frame.

Barn Dance

My own favourite preview shot of a barn dance event due to be held at Fordhall Farm.

A similar upright version was chosen over this one because an upright is easier to fit on a page. Despite this the shot that was used lacked some connection when compared to this one.

Art with Alpacas

A picture of a lady who is using her Alpaca fleeces to create felt works of art.

Another shot of the lady feeding an Apple to an Alpaca was used, I assume this is because they wanted an Alpaca in the photo and only wanted one (despite being asked to get lots of different shots).

Miners lunch

One of many shots taken at the International Cheese Awards in Nantwich, and my favourite from the event. This was passed over because Colliers was not a Shropshire company.

Summer Sun

A shot taken to highlight the sunny weather in June of this year.
It was once again passed over for an upright shot one which was nowhere near as good as this one.

Woof?

A shot taken of a rescued dog who was terrified of human contact due to previous abuse, out of all the photos I have taken this one seems to have the greatest emotional impact on people.

I can only assume that an alternative was used because there was a person in that shot despite it being a bit rubbish.

Confinement

This was taken of a guy who was recovering in an oxygen tank after sustaining an injury.

This was passed over for the simple reason that it was just too darn creepy for the paper, I suppose they have a point but I still love it!

These images are really just the tip of the iceberg, ones which I have liked enough to upload to my Flickr profile. There are always unseen pictures, as for every job I take two or three different images and sometimes several more.

[UPDATE:  OTTAWA, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The body of a third miner missing in a flooded gold mine in Canada's Quebec province since Friday has been recovered, authorities announced Tuesday. The bodies of the other two missing miners were found Monday.

The three miners descended into the mine on Friday night to do repair work. While they were underground, the shaft was unexpectedly flooded with water.

When their elevator was pulled back up later that night, the emergency latch was open and the men were not inside.

Rescue workers installed pumps to get the water out but still it was too late to save the men's lives.

All operations have now been suspended in the Menator Resources' Bachelor Lake facility, about 500 kilometers northwest of Quebec City.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.]

*

http://english.sina.com/world/2009/1103/282577.html

*

Emergency workers started the painstaking 20-hour process of pumping out the bottom levels of a mine shaft in search of three miners who went missing late Friday night in Desmaraisville in the James Bay region. But chances of finding the missing miners alive were slim last night. They were working to restore the abandoned Bachelor Lake gold mine, owned by Metanor Resources, about 600 kilometres north of Montreal.

La Farre resident Bruno Goulet, 36, Amos resident Dominico Bollini, 44, both Metanor employees, and Marc Guay, 31, an Amos resident and an employee of the mining contracting company Montali, were working to align the walls of the mine shaft about 11:30 p.m. Friday.

They were in a cage on the sixth level and communicated with the cage’s operator at the surface level, to descend to the 12th level.

However, for some reason no one noticed that the 11th and 12th levels were flooded. Pierre Bernaquez, the superintendent of human resources, said alarms are supposed to sound if there is flooding.

Once the operator noticed there was a flood, he signalled the employees, but they didn’t respond, so he brought the cage back up, but it was empty, and the door was open.

“We don’t know what happened to them,” Bernaquez said, his voice breaking. “We’re still holding out hope that we will find them alive, but the chances that they were able to get out are slim.”

Flooding isn’t uncommon in a mine because there are fissures in the walls, Bernaquez explained.

“It’s normal in a mine, but there are pumps to keep things dry.”

He speculated that the miners may have been pushed out of the cage by the water pressure.

There are emergency exits on each level, but if the miners had found them they would have been discovered by now. Bernaquez said he hoped they found a dry refuge in the flood.

Mine operations have ceased since the employees went missing. Emergency workers scoured the shaft in hopes of finding the workers.

Special pumps were brought in from Abitibi yesterday afternoon, but it will take until this afternoon to fully empty the shaft of water.

Last night, emergency workers skilled in exploring mines arrived at the site to continue the search. Quebec’s workplace safety board, the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail, was investigating the accident, as was Sûreté du Québec.

*

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/todays-paper/Hopes+miners/2168952/story.html

My post “Tattoos” is my most popular Peace Corps blog post, according to my stats page. I’ve realized that most of its hits come from search traffic that include the phrases “Peace Corps,” and “tattoos.” Hence, it seems pretty clear that potential volunteers are sifting through blog pages trying to find some enlightening words regarding Peace Corps’ official stance on body art, and how that pertains to a volunteer’s service.

So, here’s my experience with tattoos and piercings, in the Peace Corps:

When my Peace Corps Placement Officer called me late in March of 2008, to discuss my placement in Eastern Europe, at one point he asked about my tattoos. I have couple-inch-wide bands wrapped around both forearms, just below my elbows. They are completely visible when I wear short-sleeved shirts:

'PROMETHEUS' and 'EUDEMONIA'

My Placement Officer said the tattoos could be a problem, as tattoos are not prevalent in other parts of the world, and carry a negative stereotype. He told me it would be best if I covered them at all times, and kept them hidden from public view. This spooked me, and I went out and bought multiple sets of UnderArmour forearms sleeves to wear during the summer months. I started composing imaginary stories about gross scars, or bad elbow joints, to tell.

When I got off the plane in Romania, one of the first questions I asked a current volunteer was whether there was a heavy stigma attached to tattoos and body art.

“What? No,” was his casual reply. “Lots of people here have tattooos and piercings.” And he was right.

When I met my directors for the first time (two middle-aged women) I wore long sleeves, despite it being the end of July. When they commented, I showed them my tattoos, and they asked “why would you hide those from us?” It was no big deal, and it was certainly no novelty. One of my best friends at site, Miner, has massive tattoos streaking across his shoulders and down his sides. One out of three guys at my local gym has a visible tattoo.

No volunteer that I know of in Romania, male or female, has ever been discriminated against for having tattoos or piercings. Granted, I receive more attention for them, but no more so than I did in America. I know female volunteers working in small towns that have nose piercings. These are modest in comparison to some of the glittery lip studs a few of my students have.

In retrospect, I figure that my Placement Officer was warning me merely as a matter of policy. In his defense, he had never been to Romania and he had no idea whether the culture really was aversive to body art or not. I imagine that the Peace Corps stance, world-wide, is that tattoos and piercings are a sensitive issue, and should be approached delicately.

I think there is some benefit to this, as no two Peace Corps regions, or countries, or country programs, or even towns are similar. What’s acceptable here in the Jiu Valley may not be in the more traditional Romanian regions of Maramureș, and Oltenia.

But, my advice to any potential/future PCV is this: piercings and tattoos will probably not cause any problems for you at site, despite what your Placement Officer says. Peoples of other countries will typically be flexible about this issue, as you’re an American ambassador, and body art is well-known element of US culture. People will certainly be curious, or fascinated by any tattoos that you have, but your inks will probably never be villified, nor will they ostracize you.

That said, there is time and place for everything. Contact a current volunteer in your assigned country, and see what they have to say. Also, be sensitive to professionalism, and how that relates to your work assignment. For example, I always wear long sleeves when I teach, so that my tattoos are covered. I do this because my directors and I have discussed the issue, and all of us agreed that covering my tattoos while I teach is a good, professional gesture. Almost any American educational institution might ask me to do the same.

Peter Lalor

(Born on February 5, 1827 in Tinakill, Queen’s Country, now County Leix.  Died February 9, 1889 in Melbourne),  a politician who, when he was a miner in 1854, led the gold miners’ uprising at the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat, Victoria, one of the most celebrated rebellions in Australian history.

Trained as an engineer in Ireland, Lalor emigrated to Victoria in 1852, working first on the Melbourne railway and then at the Eureka goldfield in 1853.  He joined the Ballarat Reform League, formed by miners on Nov. 11, 1854, to protest high license fees, police mistreatment, lack of representation, and shortage of land.  When the league’s petition for reform went unanswered by the government, the miners organized to fight on November 30 and chose Lalor as their leader.  He went into hiding after the rebellious miners were driven out of the Eureka Stockade on December 3 and emerged again after charges against the rebel  leaders had been dropped.  After the Eureka uprising, most of the miners’ grievances were redressed.

Lalor was one of the first goldfield representatives, elected to the Victoria Legislative Council in 1855 and then to the Legislative Assembly (lower house) 1856-71 and 1875-89.  He served as postmaster general (1875), commissioner of trade and customs (1875, 1877-80), and speaker of the assembly from 1880 to 1887.

Visual source:  mininghall

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – The Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training reports that West Virginia has suffered its third coal mining fatality of the year. Agency spokeswoman Jama Jarrett says the miner was killed Tuesday morning at Newtown Energy’s Eagle Mine near Comfort, Kanawha County. Two other people were taken to the hospital. Jarrett says one suffered minor injuries to the shoulder and face, and the other received minor head injuries. Jarrett says the accident involved a hoist car. Company officials could not be immediately reached for comment. According to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration’s Web site, Tuesday’s fatality would be the nation’s 14th coal mining death this year.

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http://www.dailymail.com/ap/ApTopStories/200910270300

A man has died and 15 others have been injured following an explosion at a coal mine in Zululand. The miners were working in the mine shaft at the Sheleza Mine near Nongoma yesterday afternoon when tragedy struck. The one miner had died before he reached the hospital, according to the police’s Vusi Mbatha. “Three were critical and they were immediately transferred to a government clinic at Empangeni, and the others were left at the Mine Hospital and they are stable.” Mbatha says they’re still investigating the circumstances surrounding the explosion. “At this stage it is not clear what is the cause of the blast, but an inquest docket has been opened for investigation.”

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http://www.ecr.co.za/kagiso/content/en/east-coast-radio/east-coast-radio-news?oid=423107&sn=Detail&pid=561&One-killed–15-hurt-in-mine-blast

KIGALI, Oct 26 (Reuters) – Three Rwandan miners remained trapped underground near the capital Kigali after part of the gallery they were working in collapsed on Saturday, the government said on Monday. In a separate incident a week earlier, three others were crushed to death in a cassiterite and coltan mine in Rutongo, northern Rwanda, said natural resources minister Vincent Karega.

The Rwandan government and foreign companies are investing heavily in the central African country’s nascent mining sector, hitherto dominated by small-scale artisanal mining.

Eurotrade Interational and Gatumba Mining Concessions are conducting surveys of old Belgian concessions and are poised to begin industrial mining of cassiterite, coltan and wolfram next year, Karega has said.

“In Nyakabingo, 10 people were locked up in an underground passage which was blocked by a big amount of (fallen) residue. Seven were rescued by local people who dug another quick entrance, three remain inside,” Karega told Reuters.

Leonidas Simpenzwe, a geologist at Eurotrade, confirmed three of its miners were still trapped in the Nyakabingo mine.

The small landlocked country’s mineral sector represents its second largest foreign exchange earner after tourism, bringing in $91.3 million in 2008, according to central bank statistics.

But the incidents this month highlight the dangers of renovating mines which have lain largely dormant since the end of colonial Belgian rule.

“In Rutongo, three people have passed away. A block of rock crushed them,” said Karega.

“Old mines are always risky when you go to rehabilitate because no one knows the risk areas … more intense mining and the use of explosives have increased in preparation for industrial mining,” he said. “We are pushing the companies to strengthen the safety measures.”

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http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLQ110732

KUNMING, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) — Four workers were killed by poisonous fumes after a blast in a lead-zinc mine in southwest China’s Yunnan Province Monday, said a local government official. The accident occurred at 3:00 a.m. when explosives were used during the digging process in the mine at Xiaohe Township, Qiaojia County, said Yu Youqi, deputy head of the County government. The four workers, who worked underground in the shaft, died of suffocation by the poisonous fumes, Yu said. The workers were confirmed dead at 5:00 p.m. when their bodies were recovered, he said. The mine is owned by Yunnan Haolong Industrial Group Co., Ltd.

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/26/content_12333326.htm

This is a story of broken heart

And how i met ‘Soledad’

I was too young to see

And was too quite to speak

Mama was too busy with her new baby

Papa was too busy with his duty

But i was to naive to realize

And it was not easy to philosophize

No one seemed to care with me

Coz no one can really SEE me

Then I’ve become so Introvert

But as the time goes by i can make my self comfort

…or maybe just pretend i was comfort with it…

I never shared with people at home

I kept my Problems ALL Alone

I  tried not to feel bout the pain inside my heard

And make peace with ‘Soledad’

…i wonder…

How can i be a daughter without parents??

Coz it really feels like im an orphan

So i just do all i can to go on

No Matter if its right OR WRONG

…but..

I gotta stop NOW

I’m 20 years old n thats enough Now

I have to do the right things

And leave all the Bad things.

And all I wanna do now, just leave this place..

Find something new n feel some peace..

Every time i leave my home I know i dont want to come home but

… where should I go?? I have NOTHING in my pocket..

Part of Romania’s uniqueness is the balancing act it plays between its old-world heritages and its simultaneous attempts to step into modernity.  However, it’s clear that mentality moves at a slower pace than industrial progress (for better or for worse), and this leads to some interesting hybrids of that ‘old’ and ‘new’. I’ve written about this juxtaposition before–the ways in which the new democracy and the old ideals sometimes swirl together.

Therefore, it’s not uncommon for me to see families of pigs rummaging through nearby trash dumpsters. They’re not wild, by any means–a nearby farmer simply feels confident enough to let them wander around the town in a sort of ‘urban free-range,’ feeding. It terrifies me because these pigs are enormous. From tail to snout, they’re probably as tall as I am, and they weigh at least 3-4 times as much. Despite their size, they seem anything but dangerous–they happily sift through the trash munching up any foodstuff that’s remotely edible.

Last Wednesday, as I walked home from school, I was relatively unshaken to find two cows grazing alongside the entrance steps to my apartment building. One looked up at me, with her enormous, unsurprised, brown-cow eyes before she continued grazing. The second was completely unaffected by my presence, and ignored me altogether. Nearby, two teenage boys with pierced lips and red camouflage hoodies played music out of their mobile phones and joked as cow #1 swayed and ate less than five feet away from them.

And, a few nights later, I went to Miner’s and watched an illegally downloaded copy of  “Surrogate,” while we drank a beer or two. I left at 12:30AM, and walked down the steep hill from Miner’s apartment building to my own. There, alongside the road, was a mare alone in the dark. She had no bridle or lead, and there was no one else around. The mare sniffed through a few piles of dirt before finding a mouthful of wet, fall grass to eat. I approached her slowly, and clicked my tongue, and held out the flat of my palm. She smelled me lazily, quickly determined that I had no food to give, and turned away from me to sniff out more clumps of grass.

A taxi rolled by, with its bright, blue, neon ground-lights burning into the moonless dark. Unphased by me or by the horse on the side of the road, the driver blasted techno as he sped on. I watched the cab quickly turn a corner, then pulled my own brown and black camouflaged hood over my head, and continued my short midnight walk home.

Last week Mr Cameron threw ice on injured miner Dave Welka, 48, after he suffered horrific scalding when a bag of hot water exploded on his back on the same coalface.

Mr Welka, 48, suffered 14 per cent burns to his back and neck and may need skin grafts on his right arm.

He said: “I never thought on Thursday after he helped me that it would be the last time I saw him. I’m completely devastated and really feel for his family.

“If it wasn’t for Ian and the other people cooling me down with ice water God knows what my injuries would have been like. He was a really good friend – a lovely, genuine man who was like a brother to me.”

Mr Cameron’s sister Gaynor Dickens, 40, of Hemsworth, said: “Ian was a placid, polite, pleasant guy with a wicked sense of humour, he’d do anything for anyone.

“I feel sick thinking about what has happened. Nobody can believe it. Everyone is in shock. We are all absolutely devastated.”

A UK Coal spokesman said: “Mr Cameron was one of a team working on the Silkstone seam, preparing the face for maintenance work, when he was apparently struck by equipment with which he was working.”

An investigation into the accident is being handled jointly by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and North Yorkshire Police with the support of UK Coal and mining trade unions.

The spokesman added: “There was an incident on Thursday October 15 in the evening. Mr Welka was close to the coal cutting machine when water discharged from a hose coupling as the machine started up.

“All accidents at all mines are investigated fully so that we can take measures if necessary to avoid a repeat of those circumstances.” There will be an inquest into the circumstances of Mr Cameron’s death. Kellingley is the largest of the three remaining working pits in Yorkshire.

The other two are in Maltby near Rotherham and Hatfield near Doncaster.

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http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Hero-miner-dies-at-West.5761600.jp