Russian Mining Disaster

I've mentioned before on this blog that coming from a mining background, any mining disaster - especially a coal mining tragedy - really hits home as far as I am concerned.

At the last count, almost a hundred miners in Russia have perished at the Ulyanovskaya mine near the town of Novokuznetsk in the Kemerovo region, about 3,000 kilometres east of Moscow.

The coal industry in the area has suffered from severe under-funding since the collapse of the Soviet Union and several accidents have occurred in recent years in recent years

Alexander Sergeyev, the chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Miners, also told Moscow Echo Radio, that the practice of miners being paid based on production quotas caused them to work hastily and ignore possible dangers.

It's easy to sit in a warm, comfortable home and say, "well they shouldn't ignore the dangers" but when you and your family are cold and hungry, logic is pushed aside by more powerful instincts.

The Russian mining industry, like in so many regions, is in drastic need of reform. But for now, nearly a hundred men lie dead with more trapped below ground.

The sad thing is that the fine promises of the worried men in suits will not prevent more from dying in the future.

I have heard their promises since I was in infants school. I hear them every time there is a mining disaster. But they are never quite as loud or as sincere as the cries of the loved ones left behind.