Six trapped coal miners in Utah

[Gene]

Pray for the trapped coal miners, their families, and the mine rescue teams, that are trying to get to them. Mining is a very dangerous occupation and the attempts to rescue the six miners are even more dangerous.

I had grown up in this part of Utah and know what kind of effort and concern the people of this area have for the safety of their miners. The coal mines all have mine rescue teams that are highly trained. When an accident occurs all the coal mines, and there are many in this area, send their teams to help.

Please keep everyone involved in your prayers.

Gene

[Jeannieb43]

Some of our local radio talk shows have opined that this mine was a poorly run operation, using a lot of Mexican nationals [legal or illegal, not yet known] and probably paying them very little. Actually, none of the names of the trapped miners have been available as yet. The mine owner, who's been making the announcements about the purported earthquake, had been given numerous citations for unsafe operation but had failed to make the required repairs. One of those citations was for failure to have two alternate routes of escape for every portion of the mine; he had made none of those repairs.

In other words, this seems to have been a case where the mine collapse itself, not an earthquake, caused the seismograph to register.

And today the rescue operations have been called off. Only two days into the effort. Due to "unsafe conditions" for the attempted rescue.

[Gail]

I don't think it was the fact that the miners were illegal aliens that was Jeannie's point, Doug, or that she was disputing that they need prayers.

This, like the van accident we had here in Abbotsford earlier in the year where 3 farm workers were killed, highlights the fact that immigrants and their safety are (it sounds like here) being exploited by less-than-scrupulous employers.

That is just not right.

And I agree fully- these trapped miners need our prayers!

[Jeannieb43]

Yes. The comments on our talk radio were aimed at the owner of the mine who evidently cuts corners by paying less than fair wages and by failing to make repairs, to protect the safety of the miners.

I'm glad to learn they've resumed rescue attempts, however. As I'm writing this, the news is that they hope to be able to reach the miners within a few hours.

[Denise]

Hey Gene,

We will be praying for them. I just posted on this news last night, and was thinking the same thing, they need prayer! We will be praying for them, I was saddened to read that. God Bless...

[Dr. Shane]

I work primarily with immigrants and it is very difficult to get the immigrants to comply with safety regulations. Immigrants are not paid less than Americans. A job has a a specific wage rate - many are union jobs. What ever the job pays is what the worker gets. It doesn't matter if he is an immigrant or not. The reason immigrants work the less desirable jobs is because our economy is growing at such a pace that we have more jobs than we have Americans to fill them so Americans take the more desirable jobs and leave the less desirable jobs for immigrants to fill.

If citations were given and repairs were not made, the regulatory agency overseeing mine safety needs to be held accountable. In construction, OSHA has been known to completely shut a project down due to safety violations. If the government knew about safety hazards and allowed the mine to remain operational, they certainly bare a portion of the blame.

[olger]

Hope they come out ok! That would indeed be an event worth applauding.