Families accuse mine officials of ‘giving up’

Source: MSNBC/AP

HUNTINGTON, Utah - Six coal miners caught in a cave-in are probably dead and may forever be entombed in the still-quivering mountain, officials conceded Sunday, all but abandoning the unflinching optimism they’ve maintained publicly for nearly two weeks.

Relatives responded by accusing federal officials and the mine's owners of quitting on the rescue effort and leaving the men for dead


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20342380/

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It does seem that the "officials" of the mine are real assholes. However the liklihood that those guys are still alive are pretty slim. How would they have food and water all this time...let alone air?

they would use experts to determine what is the right thing to do but since we don't it won't happen...

:argh:

mine safety in others. The schools hate each other and of course, when they play football, the mine owners spike the water of the safety guys and usually kick ass.

instead of bending to the will of the corrupt owners and their need to "control" the message. I can't imagine that it is anything but a recovery mission now and the danger to crews may argue strongly against going ahead just to retrieve remains. I also have concerns re: the evidence buried along with the dead. Tragedy just compounded....

by the Shrub administration. For the Republicans who always argue that we need smaller governemnt...well here's an example of what happens when you get just that.

.... men after 5 holes have been punched through this might be the right
thing to do .... the men only had 1/2 gallon of water each.

Doesn't mean that the families are not hurting.

They should have been complaining about the mine owner's safety records. Sounds to me like it's time for the UMW to organize this slimeball scab company.

If you noticed, every time the mine's safety record, the company's safety record, or the fact that it was unsafe mining practices, not an earthquake, that caused the collapse was raised, that bonehead mine owner accused the questioner of being fed questions by the UMW. Hell, anyone who could think critically would have raised those questions.

Time for the Feds to jerk this company's license to run mines.

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People like him shouldn't be allowed out ever again.

If it were proved that he skimped on safety measures, don't
you think he could be/*SHOULD BE* charged with nine counts
of manslaughter?

Tesha

Serial killers get trials with defense lawyers and juries, shouldn't the mine owner get the same thing?;)

This should be no different.

Please tell me they are not going to just let those bodies rot away underground.

That's what we do with bodies in this culture.

It doesn't make sense to kill a few more of their buddies digging them up, or to leave a few more wives without husbands so their wives can bury them.

one question, how in the hell can you be so insensitive on this issue.. For example I think I would love to see my loved one before putting her in the ground or just maybe her request would be for cremation upon death.

Can you seriously ask anybody down there to risk their lives to bring some bodies? It's painful but we shouldn't be risking more lives for that.

but it's not worth anybody else dying over, and that's already occurred. Sentencing another family to the hell of losing a loved one so horribly seems like the worst scenario in this matter.

The dead are dead. The grieving are gonna grieve no matter what. The worst thing to do is add to either category.

but don't step forward and say, we will recover these people and then decide no it's not worth it. the families of these minors are correct. Grieving turns into anger and anger creates hatred, let me down once shame on you, let me down twice shame on me.......

continue to take coal and profits from that mountain. No Dollar Left Behind.

Sure, having the body would be ideal, but it's not worth anybody else dying over, and that's already occurred.

And seeing as how the cave-in was big enough to be MISTAKEN for an earthquake, I'm not convinced that it was smart to try to rescue them at all.

:(
rocknation

> For example I think I would love to see my loved one before putting her in the ground

After two weeks, I don't think you want to see them (or smell them).

Tesha

So just how many more people would you like to see killed or injured before you finally come to the realization, that it's just to damn dangerous at this point to continue risking lives, with everything as unstable as it is now.

I think there are 13 miners still buried in the Farmington #9 mine. I remember driving by there years ago, seeing the mine, and hearing the story of the lost miners. If you drive by there now, there's no sign that a mine was ever there--it looks like just another green hollow in West Virginia. Maybe there's a memorial in that hollow, I don't know.

to suffer the same fate? If the mountain is unstable and it is too risky then I say it is time to mourn the dead and let the mountain be their gravestone.

I had a cousin who worked in the Mine Safety Authority...in one case about 2 years after an accident they went into a mine (once it stabilized) to get the bodies. He was with the crew that did that. They wish they could have saved them or gotten them earlier but it was not possible.

> Please tell me they are not going to just let those bodies rot away underground.

Isn't that what we do with most bodies? It's still a
minority who are toasted and sprinkled.

You knew this was coming from Day One of this event.

Tesha

now is time to hang this dude by the balls.......

Having a family member entombed in a mine is one of the risks of mining, I know this because my grandfathers, uncles..etc were all miners...only my dad was spared..he went to a steel mill which was somtimes just as dangerous.

Three people are dead trying to rescue the 6 or at least bring their bodies to the surface.

I think that is enough.

The mountain will be their monument.

I feel for the family, I understand how horrid it is to think of this happening to them...but I am sure they want to spare others the same fate.

I think it is time to use this as a rallying point and do something to help others avoid this fate if possible.

Although I think that mine safety is seriously under-funded and NOT a priority of this administration, we all must remember that this is still one of the most dangerous jobs out there. There is more risk than to mining than most other jobs.

I would like to see other occupations and death rates in factories, etc. in the US. How doe sthat compare?

Not even in the top 10.

to stop production, and use those miners for rescue work, not to mention all the other related rescue costs?
We are talking $150,000 a day in lost income. Come on those are just dead bodies now, no air, no water, no food, and besides, Murray saved a lot of money by NOT installing recommended safety hidie holes with stocks of air, water, batteries and food.

Nothing to see here, folks. OK, break it up. Time to go home.
OH Miners? time to dig out that roof. Deres gold in dem dere coal! Let's go git it! Black money! PROFIT! Energy and more PROFIT!

( i may have misspelled flocks or flucks or something like it)

He always has such great advice...

:eyes:

I read yesterday that if they leave the 6 there (and there really is no other workable option left) that that part of the mine will be sealed, BUT that the rest of the mine would continue to be worked.

That is beyond sick. I was under the impression from the news articles that they were about to close the mine and were just taking out the last bit of coal with "retreat mining" when the cave-in happened. Are they now going to practice more retreat mining on the parts of the mine that didn't collapse?

Why on Earth would a capitalist stop mining there? As long as
there's coal to be removed economially, mining will go on. It's
just bidness.

Heck, in a few thousand years, they'll get around to recovering
the fuel value left behind by the six dead miners.

Tesha

Have you thought this through, or have I not?

> Would socialist quit mining there?
> Have you thought this through, or have I not?

This socialist supports rapid development of fusion power.

We would have been much farther down the road to commercialized
fusion power had Reagan not defunded all of the development in
favor of the oil, coal, and natural gas industries.

This socialist also favors the rapid development of programs
for energy conservation; we can probably conserve enough
energy to close the riskiest underground coal mines and
the most-ecologically-damaging surface mines.

This socialist also favors the rapid development of wind,
solar, geothermal, OTEC, and tidal power. Very few people
are trapped underground each year building windmills.

Tesha

You have to mine safely. But you don't have to give up on a mine just because of previous screwups.

The longwalls have been pulled. The only mining left to do now is pulling pillars--the infamous "retreat" mining. Even if it's safe--which I rather doubt--to go after that coal would be a PR disaster. But then, Murray seems to specialize in PR disasters.