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13 March, 2006Miners union finds irregularities at the mine where 65 miners employed by Grupo Mexico died. They could have caused the accident.
MEXICO: In an interview with a Mexican news programme, the leader of the national Miners and Metalworkers Union, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, said the union had found a series of irregularities at the Pasta de Conchos mine, where 65 miners died last month. Gómez Urrutia is visiting the state of Coahuila, where the accident occurred, investigating the real causes of the tragedy and offering his support to families who have lost loved ones.
He said that the irregularities that have been discovered could have caused the accident. Irregularities included the presence of large quantities of carbon dust in the main galleries of the mine. This had been reported to the company, but no measures were taken to deal with the problem. Higher than usual concentrations of methane gas in the mine created a hazardous situation for miners. The company further exposed workers to danger by ordering soldering work to be done inside the mine. Only hasty and temporary repairs were carried out to remedy repeated electric faults in the mine's transporter vehicle. On the very day of the explosion, Sunday 19 February, an electrical fault in the transporter was reported but the company ignored this warning. Electrical circuit boxes in the mine were not properly secured and neither were they placed above electric cables, as requested on various occasions by the union, to avoid a short circuit due to contact with water. The haulage shaft was never repaired, between pulleys 26 and 34, as repeatedly requested by the union. Ventilation was inadequate in the work preparation areas near the coalface.
The union also accuses the Ministry of Labour of complicity with Grupo Mexico because it has been slow in organising an official investigation to find out who was responsible.
The union claimed the Ministry was "spending its time fabricating accusations and organising illegal action against trade union independence, so as to distract attention from the main problem, which is the safety of the mines and the lives of thousands of miners."
He said that the irregularities that have been discovered could have caused the accident. Irregularities included the presence of large quantities of carbon dust in the main galleries of the mine. This had been reported to the company, but no measures were taken to deal with the problem. Higher than usual concentrations of methane gas in the mine created a hazardous situation for miners. The company further exposed workers to danger by ordering soldering work to be done inside the mine. Only hasty and temporary repairs were carried out to remedy repeated electric faults in the mine's transporter vehicle. On the very day of the explosion, Sunday 19 February, an electrical fault in the transporter was reported but the company ignored this warning. Electrical circuit boxes in the mine were not properly secured and neither were they placed above electric cables, as requested on various occasions by the union, to avoid a short circuit due to contact with water. The haulage shaft was never repaired, between pulleys 26 and 34, as repeatedly requested by the union. Ventilation was inadequate in the work preparation areas near the coalface.
The union also accuses the Ministry of Labour of complicity with Grupo Mexico because it has been slow in organising an official investigation to find out who was responsible.
The union claimed the Ministry was "spending its time fabricating accusations and organising illegal action against trade union independence, so as to distract attention from the main problem, which is the safety of the mines and the lives of thousands of miners."