Putin Suggests Human Error in Mine Disaster

Summary:
This article, published on May 11th in the New York Times, Putin explains how the explosion of the Raspadskaya mine on Saturday was a "human error." The Raspadskaya mine produces 12 percent of Russia’s coking coal, which is used in steel production. In 2008, government inspectors cited the mine for safety violations involving conveyer belts and rail transport, and forced it to close for 15 days. In January of this year, one miner was killed when ceiling supports collapsed. Last Saturday, Russia's largest coal mine exploded after a sensor displayed a dangerously high level of methane within the mine. Government officials have said the most likely explanation is an enormous underground burst of gas — what one expert called “a mystery of nature.” Prime Minister Putin suggested that the “human factor”, which is “someone’s careless treatment of fire,” could have caused the entrapment of 86 miners and rescue workers underground. Putin has referred to this occurrence as an "enormous tragedy", one to which "we need answers." Regardless of Putin's assertion that this disaster was the result of "human error", others think otherwise. Mr. Badalov, of the Miners Union, says that the equipment failure was not the cause of the blast, and that a large deposit of methane had leaked into the mine with the first explosion, accumulating over the next four hours until it burst into a fireball so powerful that buildings above were blown to pieces." Also, Vadim Potapov, of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Coal and Coal Mining said, “We could be looking at a sudden emission of methane as large as tens of thousands of cubic meters. That kind of emission taking place deep underground could be considered a mystery of nature.”


Correlation: This article demonstrates that Putin, as Prime Minister, deals with most of the problems happening within Russian society and deals with most of the publicity. This shows how the Prime Minister tends to have more actual power than the President, leaving the President as being merely the head of state and a figurehead. This also correlates to transparency and shows how Russia is slowly developing more transparency. Instead of the government attempting to dispute that any mine explosion occurred, they are openly informing the public as to what exactly happened and they are also informing them as to why they think what occurred happened. Lastly, this demonstrates statism because the mines are a state owned corporation, not privately owned, and mine unions are still in existence.


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