The Welsh mining tragedy

AN INQUIRY has begun into the tragic death of four miners in Wales last week.  The tragedy has not only left a community in shock, but a nation reeling.  Pictures were released this week of the four miners who perished after an alarm was raised last Thursday of trouble at the Gleision Colliery mine in the Swansea Valley.  The shaft flooded in the mine, which trapped the four victims.  Three of the seven miners working at the time managed to escape, with two of them even managing to help with the ultimately fruitless rescue mission. 

     Unfortunately, it was too late for Garry Jenkins, 39 and the youngest of the miners.  David Powell, 50, Charles Breslin, 62 and Philip Hill, 45 also died.  Throughout the week, floral tributes have been left at the site and the stunned Swansea community has pitched in to help the families of the victims.  By Monday afternoon, a fund that was set-up to help the miner’s families had already raised £50,000.  Swansea City paid respect to the miners by holding an impeccably observed one-minute silence before last weekend’s 3-0 win against West Bromwich Albion, the club’s first in the Premiership.  The Welsh rugby union team also dedicated their hard-fought 17-10 victory over Samoa at the Rugby World Cup to the miners.

      Investigations are continuing a week on into what caused the deaths.  The mine, which was privately-owned, is understood to have had problems before with flooding since it reopened in 2009.  However, Swansea’s local MP Peter Hain has admitted that he received no reports of any safety fears for the mine.  The tired, but brave workers may not be reacting with the adrenaline used in the efforts to help the trapped miners, but they continue to work hard in an effort for the investigation to give the answers into why such a tragedy could hit this community.  Specialist equipment has been brought in to help out with the investigation.

TRIBUTES: Have been left near the site of the tragic deaths

     The South of Wales is popular for its mines and the Swansea area has been steeped in tradition for generations.  For such a tragedy to occur has rocked Wales and has seen many open their hearts to the brave miners, who sadly couldn’t be rescued in time.  Peter Hain, the chief constable for South Wales summed it up when he confirmed the deaths to media outlets last weekend;

“We’ve been humbled by the community spirit that’s been shown during this most tragic of incidents.”

     My thoughts also go out to the families of the mining victims.  You did Wales proud and the community is doing you proud for the immense support that is being shown in the light of such heartbreaking tragedy.

2010: My reflection on the big stories

WE MAY be five days already into the new year and whilst 2011 offers most the chance of a fresh start, the year 2010 gave us some dramatic stories in one of the most spectacular years of recent modern times.  Here are my own personal reflections of ten of the top stories that made the headlines last year.

The Chilean miners’ miracle

For me, the story of the year was the miraculous rescue of the Chilean miners.  When the 33 miners were first reported missing on August 6, there seemed to be little hope of survival.  However, they sent messages at the end of the month which confirmed they were still alive, and on one emotional October day, the 33 men were bought to surface for the first time since the mine they were working on collapsed.  Mining is a dangerous business, as was tragically shown by the events in New Zealand at the end of the year, but this was the miracle of all miracles.  All the miners seem to be relatively uninjured, despite being underground for over two months and now are experiencing fame for the outcome.  The whole rescue was amazing and gave me such a positive vibe, to have a happy story dominate the headlines, rather than the usual depressing gloom of political strife or our brave soldiers perishing in conflicts abroad.

Haiti’s devastating earthquake

In the late hours of Tuesday January 12, the lives of thousands of people in Haiti changed forever, when a devastating earthquake hit the country.  Measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, it bought scenes of tragedy, carnage and devastation to a nation already suffering as one of the poorest in the world.  With the cholera outbreak at the end of the year, the people of Haiti will want to forget 2010 in a hurry.  If you weren’t moved by this story, then you have serious mental issues!  The pictures on the news shook me up totally.  Seeing the stories of broken families, tales of staggering survival brought tears to my eyes.  The aid appeal was unbelievable, something not seen around for over 25 years.  I donated some of my own money and it makes you stop and think ‘How lucky we are,’ when others are so less fortunate.

 

The General Election

DEBATE: The leadership televised contests were intriguing

Traditionally, the General Election has been nothing more than a damp squib, certainly in my generation.  It was so different in 2010, with a stuttering Gordon Brown, a confident David Cameron and the underdog, Nick Clegg all fighting for supremacy.  The televised leadership debates put a new dimension on the election campaign and when Brown uttered his ‘bigoted woman’ comment after a confrontation with Gillian Duffy in Rochdale, his fate was sealed.  A ‘hung parliament’ for the first time since the 1970’s put the country on tenterhooks.  Eventually, Brown did the dignified thing and stepped down and a new coalition government was formed, with Cameron at the head of it.  The election campaign was spectacular and 2010 was the most interesting race for a long time.  Even though I’m not a politics fan, it was a great campaign and I enjoyed every minute of it. 

England’s superstars flop in South Africa

FLOP: Gerrard was one of many to under-perform in South Africa

The World Cup went to Africa for the first time ever last summer, and whilst the ‘vuvuzela’ took a lot of the colourful atmosphere, England’s failure to perform was maybe not a total surprise, but certainly, an unexpected shock.  Once Robert Green made his catastrophic mistake against the United States in Rustenberg, England’s campaign went downhill from there.  Fabio Capello failed to manage the players, former captain John Terry led a player rebellion which went nowhere and Wayne Rooney’s lack of performance was startling.  Forget the ‘goal’ in Bloemfontein against the younger and stronger German side; we still would have lost the game anyway.  England arrived in South Africa full of pride of confidence.  When they left, that had turned into shattered dreams of epic failure.  It was a crushing disappointment and made me ashamed to support the national team, so much so, I’m not interested in their Euro 2012 campaign.  The superstars flopped in spectacular fashion.

Cheryl Cole’s miserable year

If any celebrity had the worst year in 2010, it had to be Cheryl Cole.  The Girls Aloud singer and X-Factor judge broke up from Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole, after allegations of Ashley sleeping around with women were published in the tabloids again.  In the summer, a mosquito bite she picked up whilst on holiday with good friend Derek Hough in Tanzania led to Cheryl picking up a deadly case of malaria.  She was close to death, but pulled through and began work on the X-Factor.  Her judging decisions in not selecting Gamu Nhengu for the final stages and for not choosing between her acts Treyc Cohen and Katie Waissel during a live elimination also led to a barrage of criticism in her direction.  For me, Cheryl is the nation’s sweetheart and she had no choice to end her marriage and the malaria was a real shock to many in general.  She didn’t have the greatest X-Factor ever, but I’m confident that Cheryl will be back to her best this year.

Tragic mass shootings in Cumbria

The tragic mass shootings in Cumbria bought a community together and placed a nation into grieving shock.  The actions of taxi driver Derrick Bird were despicable and left twelve innocent people dead and twenty-five seriously wounded.  Whitehaven may be able to recover in the future, but it will sadly have a place in the history books for being Britain’s biggest massacre since the Dunblane tragedy of 1996.  Like everyone else, thoughts were with the friends and family of the dead and I was at a loss to sum it all up.

Volcanic ash cloud

Air travel was left in shutdown mode by the massive volcanic eruption in Iceland.  Large amounts of ash were thrown into the skyline, which left many passengers stranded across airports in Europe for safety reasons.  Organisation could have been improved, but what can you do when Mother Nature decides to take control?  It was a unique event, as I can’t remember a time when air travel had completely been shut for this kind of reason and for those close to the volcano, made for a lovely picture sight.  

The travel chaos & the BA cabin crew strikes

TOUGH: It was a year to forget for the travel industry.

The Icelandic volcanic eruption added to the troubles for the travel industry, which endured a bleak 2010.  Chaos by snow in the UK throughout January and December created misery for many and the British Airways cabin crew strikes of the spring were to me, seen as poor, unnecessary and silly.  BA’s fortunes recovered slightly in the second half of the year, but their reputation took some daft knocks at the start of the year.

The hunt for Raoul Moat

Less than a month after the Cumbria shootings, news headlines were dominated by more shootings, this time the hunt of Raoul Moat.  Moat was released from prison after an 18-week sentence and ended up shooting his ex-girlfriend, killed her new lover and blinded an innocent police officer.  After a tense six hour stand-off with police in Rothbury on Friday July 9, Moat shot himself dead, bringing an unsavoury conclusion to a drama that gripped the nation.  My feelings were of a mixed feeling.  Moat’s actions can’t be condoned and the police were placed in a very difficult position when it came to the final stand-off.

Tuition fees violence

UNSAVOURY: The tuition fees violence bought dark days back

The decision to raise tuition fees at University for upto £9,000 a year from 2012 onwards was a drastic measure by the coalition government, and bought scenes of violence in the capital that hadn’t been seen since the Poll Tax Riots of 1990.  The actions of those who decided just to destroy things, such as smash windows in the Treasury, throw a fire extinguisher off Tory HQ and attack the car of the Prince of Wales bought the good name in ‘student’ down.  However, Nick Clegg’s u-turn couldn’t be ignored and he was a deserved target for students who felt that their promises had been broken and vote in the election wasted.  Although the rise has gone through in both the House of Commons and House of Lords, there are many unhappy with the situation and I don’t predict an end to the unsavoury scenes we saw in the final two months of 2010.

New Zealand in mourning after Pike River tragedy

TWENTY-NINE miners are suspected to have been killed by a second explosion in a coal mine in New Zealand.

TRAGIC: NZ flags fly at half-mast

The miners had been missing since they got trapped by a first collapse last Friday on the Pike River mine in Greymouth.  On Tuesday night, another explosion put paid to another possibility of another mining miracle, after the epic rescue of the Chilean miners last month.  After five days of no contact, the outcome of this did seem to be inevitable.  However, this won’t change the pain that all the families of the dead must be feeling.

All are grieving, but are also feeling frustrated and angry with the final outcome, feeling that the authorities in New Zealand haven’t done enough to help their trapped loved ones.  Now, the authorities have to deal with the finger pointing from these families, who feel that the rescue operation was far too slow in operation.  CCTV footage was shown on Monday of the first blast, which left the miners at least a mile and a half underground.  The potential of another blast, coupled with the fear of poisonous gases in the mine have prevented rescuers from going into the risk zone.  A day before the fatal second explosion, progress seemed to being made, with a hole being drilled to where the workers were believed to being working.  However, the families feel that these reasons were a 100% cover-up.  One resident in the Greymouth area, where this tragedy happened said that this was “The darkest hour ever, it doesn’t get much worse than this.”

The age range of the trapped miners ranged from 17 to 62.  They included two Britons, both from Scotland.  One of the Britons, Malcolm Campbell was due to get married to a local girl next month.

Infront of a worldwide media gathering, a sombre New Zealand prime minister John Key summed up the general feeling of remorse and overwhelming sense of tragedy;

“This is a national tragedy.  It is a tragedy for the men’s families, for their workmates and friends, for their community and for our nation.”

The Queen has sent her condolences in a message to Key, saying that “I am deeply saddened by today’s news and my heart goes out to all the families and friends of these brave 29 miners.”  It is still not known what triggered the second blast, but it is believed that the dangerous toxic gases have now cleared, so rescuers can start entering to find the bodies.  

Miracle of the Miners

SOMETIMES in the world, we remember moments and never forget them.  Wednesday’s dramatic rescue of the 33 men who have been trapped for 69 days in a collapsed Chilean mineshaft will go down as one of those moments, where joy, relief and celebration dominated the headlines, rather than the traditional political conflict, wars and deaths that fill up our newspapers and TV news stations.

Mario Gomez, one of the 33 to have been trapped, said on his return to earth: “I have come back to life.”  To survive such extreme conditions underground goes down to a lot of teamwork, bravery, skill and courageous ability.  None of the men gave up on the pure delight of being able to see their beloved families again.  Together with the fantastic rescue teams, who produced a yellow capsule which with every hour, went down the 620ft hole that had been drilled to return another man to human earth.  This is a result that no-one could have predicted nearly three months ago.

The disaster began on August 5^th, when the 33 miners became trapped underground when part of the San Jose mine they were working on collapsed.  Two days later, a second collapse prevents early rescue attempts to free the trapped miners and it seemed like they were doomed.  However, failure was simply not an option to all of those involved and immediately, rescuers recovered from this potentially devastating setback and began drilling in a desperate attempt to find the men.  From this early stage, authorities were warning everyone that the chances of finding anyone alive were very slim.  Hope grew on August 22^nd, when a rescue probe returned with a message, shown by president Pinera to Chilean television, which proved that all 33 miners are remarkably still alive.  Suddenly, the rescue team involved manage to make voice contact with the men and begin sending down the vital supplies they need to keep them alive.  Initial reports suggested it might not be until Christmas when they might end up being rescued, so this result is even better than what first could have been predicted.

With support from millions across the world, the miners have been seen in good spirits from video footage, even managing to see an international friendly in September of their beloved country losing in Kiev to the Ukraine.  Once the first miner, Florencio Gonzalez was winched to the surface amid jubilant scenes, this was going to be a day full of emotion and elation. 

Chile has been in the headlines a lot in 2010, for a varying degree of fortunes.  The devastating earthquake that hit the country in March was followed by the national football team’s charismatic flair and attacking prowess that won over many fans in the World Cup finals in South Africa.  For a country that has suffered its fair bit down the years, and not had the best of international relations, the response to the plight of the miners has redeemed the country in the eyes of everyone across the globe.  It is so nice to see something so heart-warming dominate the headlines.

Some of the miners are receiving treatment in hospital, though it is thought to be mainly precautionary measures.  It is staggering to think that all 33 miners escaped any serious injury, or as a matter of fact, death.  This is a miracle of all proportions.

THE 33 CHILEAN MIRACLE MINERS OF 2010: Florencio Avalos (31), Jorge Galleguillos (55), Dario Segovia (48), Carlos Bugueno (28), Victor Segovia (48), Franklin Lobos (53), Esteban Rojas (44), Renan Avalos (29), Osman Araya (30), Pablo Rojas (45), Claudio Yanez (34), Richard Villarroel (23), Ariel Ticona (29), Carlos Mameni (24), Juan Illanes (52), Juan Aguilar (49), Edison Pena (34), Mario Sepulveda (40), Daniel Herrera (27), Alex Vega (31), Carlos Barrios (27), Jose Henriquez (54), Claudio Acuna (35), Jimmy Sanchez (19), Omar Reygadas (56), Raul Bustos (40), Jose Ojeda (47), Samuel Avalos (43), Pedro Cortez (26), Victor Zamora (34), Luis Urzua (54), Mario Gomez (63), Manuel Gonzalez Pavez (UNKNOWN)

Miracle Miners Are Found In Chile

After being trapped underground for two weeks and with seemingly little hope of survival, a group of Chilean miners have managed to send a message to confirm that they are miraculously, still alive.  The 33 miners were first reported missing on August 6^th and have remained trapped in a cave near the city of Copiapo.

The President of the South American country, Sebastian Pinera confirmed the news by showing the message to local television stations.  The message was written in red paint and in English translation said; “The 33 of us in the shelter are well.”

Pinera also told reporters how the message had been reached from deep underground.  It had been a tied to a drill that rescuers had previously used to bore through to the area near an underground shelter.  Celebrations have got underway after the news brokethrough, with parties being held in the capital Santiago, a country which is still attempting to rebuild itself from the shattering earthquake that ripped through the nation back in March. 

President Pinera has said that it could take months for the miners to be rescued back to sea level, possibly even as late as Christmas.  This is because the miners are about 700 metres underground.  The miners are believed to have a limited about of food accessible to them, but are looking in better shape that what had been previously expected.  Doctors are advising that high energy foods be sent down as soon as possible.  The miners are staying alive, due to a massive tank of water and ventilation shafts being around in the area.

When this news brokethrough on Monday afternoon, these people can only be described as the ‘Miracle Miners.’