172 miners in Shandong Huanyuan mine are still missing. Who should be blamed? The floods? From the Washington Post:
The first sign of trouble was a stream of water that burst from a wall deep in the mine, Wang Kuitao recalled. Within minutes, he said, the water was everywhere, rushing down the shaft carrying tons of mud. Another disaster was on the way, Wang quickly concluded, one more in the cruel rhythm of China’s deadly coal fields…
Here in China, however, the pain and suffering of mining communities are not only acute but widespread. More than 4,700 miners were killed last year and more than 2,000 have been killed this year, making China’s coal mines the deadliest in the world. In the United States, 47 coal miners died on the job in 2006. [Full Text]
