The Chilean miners, after being trapped underground for more than two months, have finally ascent to the surface safe and sound. And the whole world are celebrating their rebirth.
It’s an itchy topic for China, which lose miners in the hundreds each year in accidents. Only that the accidents were not so accidental. Without proper regulation and strict execution, one can almost expect China’s coal and minerals to continue being blood-stained.
Many feel indignant when they compare the Chilean miner rescue to the Wangjialing Coal Mine Flood, which were portrayed as a miraculous rescue by the officials, despite the (reported) 23 casualties. Not only did the Chilean rescue yield more successful results, the way the miners and their family were treated and reported also contrasted the concealment, isolation and media suppression from the Chinese government.
Chinese people wonder why the same couldn’t happen in their own country. Some miners in China expressed envy on the provision of safety facilities and shelters underground, saying only the few largest mines in China can afford similar shelters that are common in Chilean mines. Dwarfed in more ways than one, Beijing has apparently zipped press in the news coverage of the Chilean rescue, and further ridiculed its reaction by over-emphasizing the use of a Chinese-made crawler crane in the rescue.
Mining accidents should never be anticipated. Nonetheless, when it happens, which almost certainly will in China, I hope it could be handled more like the way the Chileans have exemplified for us. I would feel really proud of my country when that day comes, and until then, I just cannot stop asking, “why not?”
