Worst Czech Coal Mine Blast In Decades Kills 12 Poles, One Czech

[ThunderBlade + 231]

A methane explosion killed 12 Poles and one Czech at an eastern Czech coal mine, the OKD mining company said on Friday, in the worst disaster of this kind in almost three decades.The state-run firm said that a methane blast more than 800 metres (875 yards) underground devastated areas of the CSM hard coal mine near the town of Karvina and the Polish border on Thursday afternoon. “We stopped underground work immediately, evacuated miners to the surface, and rescuers arrived who inspected the whole location thoroughly,” OKD spokesman Ivo Celechovsky said on Czech public television.OKD had previously said that 11 Poles and two Czechs died, but added later one of those thought to be Czech was in fact a Polish citizen. The accident is the worst mining disaster in the Czech Republic since 1990, when 30 miners died in a fire at a mine near Karvina in the same region, according to a list compiled by CTK news agency. Polish President Andrzej Duda declared Sunday a day of national mourning.

[pinto + 293]

Time for cliche " safety must always be a priority".... 21st century and some things are unchanged

[Pavel + 384]

Some local reports from there said there’s an earthquake every month, almost. The whole area is the dirtiest in Europe, cities are still being demolished as not to stand in the way of mining...Time was stopped between 18th and 19th century

[damirUSBiH + 327]

Feels like reading a story from the 1870's. How is it possible that methane pockets not be detected?

[50 shades of black + 254]

Just now, damirUSBiH said:

Feels like reading a story from the 1870's. How is it possible that methane pockets not be detected?

I agree.  It sounds more like a news from China... sad

[Tomasz + 1,608]

Coal mines in Czech Republic are private property and its known they cut costs on security and many other things to be still profitable.

Polish coal miners something like 20 years ago made an agreement with polish goverment- there was a restructurization of  this brand of industry and thousands of polish miners got compensation of about 10.000 $ but they  are not allowed to work in polish coal mines anymore. Many of them spent their compensation fast so they have to work  abroad or work in other profession in Poland.

Coal miners earn rather good money from polish perspective and for years there was quite a big unemployment in Silesia Region and whole Poland so they work in Czech or any other coal mine outside Poland.

I dont know how much they earn there but medium wage in Czech Republic is something like 50% higher than in Poland (dont confuse it with average salary which is a lot more similiar but 70 % of workers  in Poland earn less)

Edited December 21, 2018 by Tomasz

[Art McTeagle 0]

Here in New Zealand, we had a similar disaster (Pike River Mine) in 2010 when 29 miners died in a methane explosion. Pike River Mining Co. was taken to court for negligence and ordered to pay hefty compensation to the victim's families.
In the aftermath, some NZ criminal law experts believe,

"Disasters like Pike River seem to point inexorably towards the need to better regulate the activities of corporate managers and to create a stronger safety culture around workplace environments. Corporate manslaughter ought to be considered, together with other regulatory mechanisms, as means of better protecting employees and members of the public from corporate negligence and unsafe practices.”

In light of this disaster, I think it is important to bear in mind any potential impacts, that trends to  increasing industrial deregulation may have.