US President Barack Obama demands mine blast action

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MissConstrue
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11 Apr 2010, 4:06 pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8613813.stm :bom:


US President Barack Obama has called for an investigation into a mining disaster in West Virginia that killed 29 people.

Mr Obama said the cause of the blast at the Upper Big Branch mine should be determined, to prevent similar accidents from occurring.

The bodies of four missing workers were found on Saturday, ending hopes that any missing miners had survived.

The disaster was the deadliest US coal mining accident in 40 years.

The cause of the blast has not yet been confirmed but officials believe it could be related to high levels of methane in the mine.

Mr Obama called for federal mine safety investigators to look into the cause of the accident.

"We cannot bring back the men we lost," he said in a statement.

"What we can do, in their memory, is thoroughly investigate this tragedy and demand accountability."

Rescue workers are recovering the last bodies from the mine and funerals of the victims have begun to take place.

It is the worst coal mine disaster in the US since 38 people were killed in a Kentucky mine in 1970.


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xenon13
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13 Apr 2010, 1:20 am

Execute Don Blankenship!



ruveyn
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13 Apr 2010, 4:30 am

xenon13 wrote:
Execute Don Blankenship!


The worst that the CEO of Massey Energy could be accused of is criminal negligence. That is not a hanging offense. Clearly the company is wide open to tort litigation and if negligence can be proved they should be socked with a very big damage judgment to monetarily compensate the survivors of those who died in the disaster. A monetary award will not bring back the dead, but it will help the widows and the children some.

Also note that the miners who willingly go underground to dig out coat are quite aware of the dangers.

There is even a song about this:


Oh come all you young fellers so young and so fine
Seek not your fortune in a dark dreary mine
It'll form as a habit and seep in your soul
Till the stream of your blood runs as black as the coal
Where it's dark as a dungeon damp as the dew danger is double pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls the sun never shines
It's a dark as a dungeon way down in the mine

Well it's many a man that I've seen in my day
(uh huh no laughin' during this song please it's bein' recorded)
Like a fiend with his dope and a drunkard with his wine
A man will have lust for the lure of the mine
And pray when I'm dead and my ages shall roll
That my body would blacken and turn into coal
Then I'll look from the door of my heavenly home and pity the miner digging my bones
Where it's dark as a dungeon..


ruveyn