JOHN MARONE, KYIV
UKRAINE'S BROKEN RECORDS
Ukraine has broken another record for disasters - a record it set itself for itself. On November 18, at three o'clock in the morning, a methane blast rocked a coal mine in eastern, Donetsk Region, claiming the lives of at least 89 miners. Prior to the tragedy, a mine in neighboring Luhansk Region had been the site of the country's worst coal industry disaster: In March 2000, a total of 80 miners lost their lives as the result of an accident at the Barakova coal mine.
Ukraine holds the world records for the worst nuclear accident (Chernobyl, 1986) and the deadliest air show crash (Sknyliv, 2002). But deaths at coalmines are so common in the former Soviet republic that they hardly raise eyebrows anymore.
"Not a single mine in the world is safe from such incidents," Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said during a visit to the scene of the carnage. Yanukovych, who hails from the coal-rich Donbass region, has been an advocate of boosting domestic coal production.
During a commemoration of Ukrainian Miners Day last August, Yanukovych said his government planned to increase coal production to 100 million tons of coal by 2010.
"Today, we are not talking about closing mines, as we did in the 1990s, but rather about the development of the coal industry, the construction of new mines," he said in Kyiv.
Ukrainian coal production for this year is forecast to reach just over 82 million tons.
In Ukraine, two miners perish for every million tons of coal produced, according to official statistics. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, more than 4,700 miners have been killed in Ukraine. In the first half of this year alone, 3,149 people were injured and 75 killed in Ukraine's coal mining industry, the State Committee for Industrial Safety reported.
The chairman of the State Committee for Industrial Safety, Serhiy Storchak, said the Zasyadko mine is exemplary in terms of methane safety, compared to other Ukrainian mines.
There are around 200 mines in Ukraine, of which 75 percent are considered highly vulnerable to a methane blast, and 35 percent to an explosion of coal dust.
Since 1999, there have been four major accidents at the Zasyadko mine: a 1999 methane blast killing 50 and injuring 40; another blast in 2001 that left 55 dead and 10 more missing; a 2002 explosion that killed 20 miners; and another accident last year in which 13 lost their lives.
At the end of last month, miners were killed when a shaft collapsed in Luhansk Region. In August, another accident in Luhansk Region claimed the lives of six more coal workers.
"The tragedy in Donetsk is a wake-up call not only for the coal industry of Ukraine but for all state authorities," President Viktor Yushchenko told a government meeting in Kyiv the day after the blast.
Like Prime Minister Yanukovych, Yushchenko also visited the Zasyadko mine, and was photographed hugging one of the victim's relatives.
"This is a huge tragedy and we must learn something from it," the president said. "First of all, let's protect those going into the face of the mine today."
According to the State Committee for Industrial Safety, around 160 of the country's 200 mines have not undergone capital repairs in 20 years; 50 of them were built over a hundred years ago.
Experts say Ukraine's mines are among the most dangerous in the world, largely because they are so deep, typically running more than 1,000 meters underground. Most European coal beds lie at a depth of 500 to 600 meters.
Sunday's blast at the Zasyadko mine took place at a depth of 1,078 meters. Over 450 miners were in the mine at time.
The fate of 11 miners was still unknown as of November 21, and rescuers had still not been able to put out the fire.
A total of 28 miners have been hospitalized from Sunday's accident.
In the meantime, funerals for dozens of killed miners whose bodies could be recovered have been held this week in Donetsk.
Coal Industry Minister Serhiy Tulub announced November 21 that every family of a miner killed in the accident at the Zasyadko mine in Donetsk would receive at least $60,000, depending on the number of dependents in the family.
Various regional administrations have also donated money to the victims, in addition to money from central funds.
The Cabinet of Ministers has allocated $1.3 million for clean-up works.
The government had announced in September that it would allocate $80 million to improve coalmining safety in Donetsk Region between 2008 and 2011.
However, Ukraine isn't the only country to suffer from mine disasters.
Chinese mines currently hold the dubious honor of being the world's most dangerous.
China produced 35 percent of the world's coal in 2003, but reported 80 percent of the total deaths in coalmine accidents, according to statistics with the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS).
Even safety conscious countries like the United States continue to witness coal mine tragedies.
Forty-seven US miners died last year, more than double the 22 killed in 2005 and matching the number in 1995. The recent spike is the biggest percentage increase in 107 years, according to federal records going back to 1900, and largely due to an increase in production.
The worst US coal mining accident was in West Virginia in 1907, when 362 men and boys were killed. In 1968, an explosion in the same coalmining region killed 78.
The 1907 catastrophe prompted formation of the Federal Bureau of Mines, which examined mine safety, while the 1968 accident led to the creation of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration a year later. As a result, US mines got safer.
There is no reason why Ukraine cannot learn from its tragedies as well, drafting new laws to improve safety standards. Compensation to the families of the victims is only a start. As the price of gas and oil imports continue to rise, both the US and Ukraine will be increasingly dependent on their coal reserves. Higher production means more accidents in an industry known for its hazards. But that doesn't mean that Ukraine has to go on breaking records.
John Marone, Kyiv Post Staff Journalist, Ukraine
November 23, 2007
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