Coal Miners Killed in Methane Explosion.

Twelve people died in a methane explosion at Ruda Slaska-Kochlowice mine in Poland. Dozens of others were injured, some very seriously.

The "accident" again raises the issue of poor safety in Poland's mines, where making money often takes precedence over humand life.

Shortly after this incident, a miner showed videos that he made showing how the methane levels could go well over the safe level, but the management of the mine would ignore this. It looks as if there have also been, like in other mines, incidents of falsifying records.

In April a miner managed to document the methane levels on video camera and provide evidence that people were being forced to work in unsafe conditions. The management ignored this. He then reported this to various law enforcement agencies, including the ABW. (National Security Agency). On April 16, the ABW informed the police and the Mining Office of these offences. Yet nothing seems to have been done.

The ABW brought up the matter again on May 11 after information of repeated infringements.

Methane is considered explosive in levels over 5%. At the time of the recording, the methane level is 9.1%.

This is just the latest incident which highlights how sometimes mining companies out people's lives at risk so they can earn more money. In 2006, 23 people were killed at the Halemba mine in Ruda Slaska in a blast in an area of the mine which had had high methane levels for months. This high-profile tragedy apparently did nothing to improve the safety conditions in many mines.

Video showing the methane levels:
http://www.tvn24.pl/-1,1620063,0,1,gornik-w-tej-kopalni-falszuja-wskazan...

About the Halemba tragedy:
http://libcom.org/news/halemba-mine-tragedy-the-high-costs-of-greed-and-outsourcing-24112006
http://libcom.org/news/polish-miners-killed-trapped-in-massive-blast-22112006