This is to show that it's always a terrible tragedy when people go to work and never come home, no matter where in the world it is. It has been confirmed that 16 bodies have been pulled out of the San Fernando coal mine near Medellin. There were 72 trapped inside the mine when the explosion hit, with virtually no hope of recovering any of them alive.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/...
A coal mine explosion in northwestern Colombia, believed to have been caused by a buildup of methane gas, has killed at least 16 miners and left dozens trapped more than 10 hours later.
The explosion Wednesday night collapsed part of an access tunnel that is more than 2km long and drops to a depth of 150 metres, said provincial disaster coordinator John Rendon.
President Alvaro Uribe posted information about the explosion at the San Fernando mine on the presidential website.
"It's very sad news," he said in a statement, adding that the predicament of the trapped miners is "a very difficult fate."
Two injured miners managed to escape from the mine in Amaga, a town located just south of Medellin, capital of Uribe's home state of Antioquia, Rendon said.
An estimated 70 to 80 workers were in the mine at the moment of the explosion "because by chance it happened during a shift change," said General Alberto Mejia, commander of the army's Medellin-based 4th Brigade.
What's more, the mine had passed an inspection only a month before, indicating what the inspecting authority found the mine ventilation system to be in working order.
I wish I could say that we in this country are better than that. Given the mine disasters in West Virginia and the Gulf volcano, I don't really know that.
Please spare a few thoughts for the families of the dead in Colombia.
Amagá