3000 miners trapped underground

[wellard]

BREAKING NEWS

More than 3,000 workers are trapped deep underground in a South African gold mine after an accident blocked a deep shaft, officials have said.

The 2.2km (1.4mile) shaft was blocked near the bottom, trapping the workers. The Elandsrand mine is in the Witwatersrand Basin, which holds the world's largest gold deposit. The mines there are among the deepest in the world.

South Africa's mines have a poor safety record, said a spokesman for the country's National Union of Mineworkers.



This sort of accident gives me nightmares, lets offer our thoughts, wishes and prayers to these men.

[Ladyzekke]

OMG! That many? I had no idea that many people are in gold mines. How terrible! I hope they can get them out. They definitely have my thoughts and prayers.

[johnny]

Those mines give me the creeps, how often do you hear about incidents like this? There was a cave in in Russia not too long ago, another in China recently, and now this. I wouldn't go down there if it was the last job on earth, i prefer going up.

[wellard]

Looks like there is big hope.

BBC news
"the bottom of the shaft where the miners are trapped is well ventilated.
She said rescuers were in contact with the miners, and planned to begin lifting them very soon.
However, only 75 miners could be lifted out at a time through the adjacent ventilation shaft, she added. "

Does not sound as though lives are in danger, but strewth who would work underground. You could not pay me enough to work in a mine.

[Ilander]

...Well.

Mine accidents actually occur about twice a year in the United States, at least over the past few years...

It's a dying profession, thanks largely to the amount of specialized equipment and techniques that vastly increase a person's individual productivity.

My old roommate was major in Mining Engineering at the University of Kentucky, one of the few places that still offers such a program, and he's been underground many, many times. The odds of this occuring are very low, and many, many safety precautions are taken.

The most unfortunate thing is how many of the raw materials we use on an everyday basis absolutely depend upon mining. Look around your room. You'll probably be hard pressed to find any item completely free of any sort of mined-materials.

What I see here is that South African safety standards are not up to snuff, and neither are their mining techniques.

[Ladyzekke]

Yep Ilander, wasn't but a month or so ago we all heard about the collapsed mine in Ohio. Some say it was an earthquake that caused it. WAs really sad, cause I thought they were going to be able to get the miners out. Then time went by, then another small earthquake happened...after so many weeks, and without anyone being able to actually pinpoint where the miners might be located, I figured none could survive. Not sure how that robot search went. But it's October now so I'm quite sure I didn't miss anything, nobody survived. I would still like for them to continue their search though for at least the bodies, for their families. I heard there were talks about continuing the mining on that same place, but the other side. Gawd, how can they do that knowing there are dead bodies of their own still unfound. Is the dollar that big and important?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/...n3204614.shtml

[Sever]

Well, my thoughts are with them, but it's not going to stop me from going underground. Apparently i can kiss goodbye any goals of working underwater (fussy bunch they are) so the next best pay packet in my field comes with underground. But first i have to a) get my foot in the door and b) get my ferkin driver's license back!

[Trogdor]

You have no need to worry Sever, Australia is well known as one of, if not the safest country for mining. It's just unfortunate the way some companies choose to cut safety corners in order to ramp up profits