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Post by John on Nov 18, 2007 20:06:37 GMT -5
Took this story from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Ukraine mine explosion: 63 dead
November 19, 2007 - 6:36AM
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At least 63 miners were killed and 37 more are reported missing following an explosion in a coal mine in eastern Ukraine, according to a new death toll released by the Ukrainian ministry of emergency situations.
"Sixty-three miners have been killed and the fate of 37 others remains unknown," Igor Krol, a ministry spokesman said, adding that 28 employees of the mine were hospitalised after the blast.
AFP
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Post by John on Nov 19, 2007 8:09:53 GMT -5
From the Star newspaper.
ERGEI CHUZAVKOV
Associated Press
DONETSK, Ukraine – A methane blast ripped through a coal mine in eastern Ukraine early Sunday, killing at least 63 miners in the country's worst mining accident in years, emergency officials said.
More than 360 miners were rescued but 37 others remained trapped inside the mine, one of Ukraine's largest and deepest, with a raging fire hampering efforts to save them, officials said.
The explosion occurred around 3 a.m. more than 1,000 metres deep inside the Zasyadko mine in the regional capital Donetsk, the heart of the country's coal mining industry, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.
Authorities evacuated 367 miners. Twenty-eight were hospitalized, the ministry said.
Vitaliy Kvitkovsky, a miner in his thirties, was among those evacuated. He said he had to walk over the bodies of his dead colleagues in order to climb to the surface.
"The temperature increased sharply and there was so much dust that I couldn't see anything," Kvitkovsky said in footage broadcast on Ukraine's Channel 5 television. "So I was moving by touch over dead bodies along the rail track."
The accident – the worst in Ukraine in seven years – highlighted the lack of attention to safety in a country with some of the world's most dangerous mines.
President Viktor Yushchenko blamed his cabinet for not doing enough to reform coal mining and ordered an official panel to investigate the accident and bring those responsible to account.
Local authorities declared three days of mourning for the dead miners.
Dozens of teary-eyed relatives gathered at the mine's headquarters in Donetsk waiting for news on their loved ones. As grim-faced officials emerged to announce the names of the workers found dead, the relatives broke into sobs and cries, some fainted.
Natalia Piskun, a middle-aged woman, waited for news about her husband, believed trapped inside the mine. She said she would never forgive the mine's director if her husband was found dead.
"If, God forbid, he is lost, I promise I will, if I manage, I will bite this fat beast on his leg! I promise, I swear to you," Piskun, her face distorted by anger and pain, told AP Television News.
It was the deadliest mine accident in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, since an explosion at the Barakova mine in the eastern Luhansk region killed 81 miners in March 2000.
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, a native of the mining region, visited the site about 720 kilometres southeast of Kyiv, pledging to help victims' families.
Yanukovych said a safety watchdog had reported that miners were working in accordance with norms. "This accident has proven once again that a human is powerless before the nature," he said.
Experts say Ukraine's mines are dangerous largely because they are so deep, typically running more than 1,000 metres underground. In comparison, most European coal beds lie at a depth of 500 to 600 metres.
Methane is a natural by-product of mining, and its concentration increases with depth. More than 75 per cent of Ukraine's some 200 coal mines are classified as dangerous due to high methane concentrations.
Mines must be ventilated to prevent explosions, but some rely on outdated ventilation equipment, officials said. Safety violations and negligence add to the problem.
Last year, a blast at the mine killed 13 workers. In 2002, an explosion killed 20 and 54 died in a similar explosion in 2001. In May 1999, 50 miners were killed in a methane and coal dust blast there.
Since the 1991 Soviet collapse, more than 4,700 miners in Ukraine have been killed. For every one million tonnes of coal brought to the surface in Ukraine, three miners lose their lives, according to official data.
Despite the dangers, there is growing appetite for Ukraine's rich coal reserves, particularly amid rising natural gas prices. The government has called for production to be increased by a third to almost 80 million tonnes this year.
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Post by John on Jun 8, 2008 7:52:25 GMT -5
And another one!
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37 missing in Ukraine mine blast
* June 8, 2008 - 4:23PM
Thirty-seven people were missing today after an explosion ripped through a coal mine in eastern Ukraine, an emergency official said.
"The fate of 37 people who were in the mine when the explosion took place at around 5am (1200 AEST) local time remains unknown," said Andriy Bondarenko, the regional head of the Emergency Situations Ministry.
Three people on the surface were injured by the blast at the Karl Marx mine in the town of Yenakiyevo in the coal-rich Donetsk region, Bondarenko said.
The mine was closed down yesterday due to safety violations and only a skeletal staff was working at the time of the blast, he said.
Work has been suspended at 20 mines in the region following an explosion on May 23 which killed 11 people, one of a series of disasters to strike the region's aging mines in recent years.
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Post by dazbt on Jun 8, 2008 15:30:55 GMT -5
And another one!++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 37 missing in Ukraine mine blast * June 8, 2008 - 4:23PM Thirty-seven people were missing today after an explosion ripped through a coal mine in eastern Ukraine, an emergency official said. "The fate of 37 people who were in the mine when the explosion took place at around 5am (1200 AEST) local time remains unknown," said Andriy Bondarenko, the regional head of the Emergency Situations Ministry. Three people on the surface were injured by the blast at the Karl Marx mine in the town of Yenakiyevo in the coal-rich Donetsk region, Bondarenko said. The mine was closed down yesterday due to safety violations and only a skeletal staff was working at the time of the blast, he said. Work has been suspended at 20 mines in the region following an explosion on May 23 which killed 11 people, one of a series of disasters to strike the region's aging mines in recent years. A bit more than a glimmer of hope here; "Rescue teams heard the voices of some of the trapped miners after attempting to get to them through a damaged shaft, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov told Ukrainian television.
"There is hope they are alive," he said, adding that the ventilation system in the mine is still working.
The methane explosion, one of the most powerful in the country's mining history, tore through the Karl Marx mine in the eastern city of Donetsk around 5am (0300BST), trapping the miners some 3,300 feet underground, officials said.
The injured workers, three of them women, were taken to hospital with severe burns, said Maryna Nikitina, a spokeswoman for Ukraine's industrial safety watchdog agency.
The explosion damaged two shafts and destroyed several buildings above ground, according to TV reports." |
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Post by John on Jun 8, 2008 15:59:30 GMT -5
From what I gather, there was one a few weeks back in the Ukraine, don't know the details.
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Post by shropshirebloke on Jun 8, 2008 16:02:04 GMT -5
Strange - there's nothing about it on the BBC web site.....
Now if it had been "Three trapped in New York Lift" it would have been a major story.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who hears "mine", "explosion", "trapped" on the radio news at work and tells everyone to belt up - and they can't understand why I'm bothered.
All these years later - of course I'm bothered
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Post by dazbt on Jun 8, 2008 17:04:21 GMT -5
From what I gather, there was one a few weeks back in the Ukraine, don't know the details. I think this is the one you were thinking of John, “ASTANA, June 8 (RIA Novosti) - Rescuers recovered the bodies of all five miners who died after a cave-in and methane leak at a coal mine in central Kazakhstan on June 2, the country's Emergency Situations Ministry said Sunday.
The Tentekskaya mine, located in the Karaganda Region, is owned by the world's largest steel company, ArcelorMittal.
The search operation, which began immediately after the blast, was hampered by over 1,000 tons of rubble brought down by the cave-in. A total of 95 people were evacuated from the mine after the accident.” But I believe that there has been another coalmine explosion in Siberia today. Plus this in Poland last week; “WARSAW, Poland: A mine spokeswoman says a fifth miner has died as a result of injuries suffered in a methane gas explosion at a Polish coal mine last week.
The explosion occurred Wednesday in a shaft nearly 3,000 feet (900 meters) underground near the town of Jastrzebie Zdroj.
Borynia mine spokeswoman Katarzyna Jablonska-Bajer said Sunday that a fifth miner — a 41-year-old man — has now died. Eighteen others were injured and are in stable condition.
Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday that he was praying for the miners who perished. The pope made his remarks in Polish during his weekly address to pilgrims in Rome.
The blast was Poland's most serious mining accident since a methane gas explosion killed 23 miners at the Halemba mine in November 2006.”During the last two weeks there have been several incidents in China, flooding, explosions and outbursts that have resulted in many miners being killed, not to mention the ongoing but probably useless attempts to rescue quite a number of coal miners buried during the recent Chinese earthquakes. |
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Post by John on Jun 8, 2008 18:59:42 GMT -5
I picked the Ukraine accident up from the Melbourne Age newspaper.
Their story was from the AP news organisation.
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Post by dazbt on Jun 9, 2008 2:20:11 GMT -5
This is an interesting source of info on the ongoing situation of coal mining throughout the world, obviously it can only include what has been released to news media, but it always seems to manage to glean snippets that aren't widely publicised. You will have to put up with the reports of coal price fluctuations and share prices etc. but the interesting stuff is easily recognised. Live updating makes it one of the best sources of updated notification of all things coal related. www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Business+%26+Finance/Industry+Sectors/Energy/Coal |
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Post by dazbt on Jun 9, 2008 7:44:08 GMT -5
"KIEV, Ukraine: Emergency teams on Monday rescued 23 miners after a powerful explosion at a coal mine in eastern Ukraine but at least 13 others remained trapped, an official said.
The teams went deep into the mine in the eastern Donetsk region to rescue 21 miners after earlier helping two to safety following the methane blast late Sunday, said Maryna Nikitina, a spokeswoman for Ukraine's industrial safety watchdog agency. Rescuers also recovered one dead body.
The miners were working some 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) underground to improve safety conditions at Karl Marx mine at the time of the blast.
Rescue teams heard the voices of some of the trapped miners when they attempted to get to them through a damaged shaft, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov told Ukrainian television Sunday.
"There is hope they are alive," he said, adding that the ventilation system in the mine is still working."
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Post by dazbt on Oct 4, 2008 4:24:15 GMT -5
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Post by John on Oct 4, 2008 7:30:07 GMT -5
I get the impression when I read of these accidents, especially the Chinese ones that stone dust and stone dust barriers are not used.
It amazes me that with all the experience of dust and dust barriers over the years that this means of suppressing an explosion is not used universally around the world in coal mining.
Before it's use in the UK, dust explosions propagated by methane ignitions travelled throughout the pit and sometimes blew the headstocks over and damaged surface buildings around the shafts.
Afterwards just the district suffered where the ignition took place.
The two NSW collieries I worked at used water barriers made of flimsy plastic filled with 30 gallons of water set up the same way as our old dust barriers were.
Both proven technology and cheap to erect and maintain.
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