Monday, 9 August 2010

The real cost ... continued

Two more disasters, though one hasn't yet resulted in confirmed fatalities.
Six miners were confirmed dead Sunday after Saturday's sudden gas leak at a deep coal mine in southwest China's Sichuan Province, local authorities said.

Rescue efforts ended Sunday after all the bodies of the six trapped miners were found, said a spokesman with the government in Shifang City, where the coal mine is located.

The gas leak occurred at 9 a.m. Saturday down a pit about 3,500 meters deep. Fifteen workers were cleaning the mine's shaft at the time.

Nine people were lifted to ground unharmed.

Authorities are investigating the deadly incident at the mine run by Hongda Red Star Mining Co., Ltd.

In a separate case, seven miners are still trapped in a coal mine pit after a sudden gas leak early Sunday morning in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (1)
it's worth reiterating that these people are dying to provide the raw materials and fuel for Chinese industry, which in turn is the source of the slew of cheap consumer products that allow us to enjoy a standard of living far beyond the economic value of the work we do.

It's a re-jig of the slave labour that made the European economies 'great.' It's always convenient to have the ugly business of exploitation and death carried out somewhere over the horizon, where civilised folk don't have to concern themselves about it, while enjoying the benefits.
1 - "Six Die in SW China Coal Mine Gas Leak," unattributed article. Published by Xinhua, 8th of August, 2010. (http://english.cri.cn/6909/2010/08/08/1781s587446.htm)

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