Friday, January 06, 2006

Mining The Mine Tragedy: Turning Grief Into Greed

It is very sad news about how the hardworking miners, trapped in a coal mine, died. I am sure the first (false) news of everyone surviving, and then finding that almost every single one of them died, must be very devastating to the families. I have heard some news items of some people wanting to sue someone or the other for the initial incorrect news of the miners' survival. This is just incredible and in poor taste.

These were people trapped inside a mine. It's a dangerous profession, and, sad, but true, death is a constant risk.

If the people want to sue because the mining company did something deliberately negligent in safety, fine, they SHOULD do that. But, suing people for not knowing what the facts were deep inside a mine? I don't know. That is, like turning coal into energy, plain, simple, turning of grief into greed.

I hope the families of the lost souls find closure. If there was gross negligence on the part of the mine owners, I hope they are made to pay a high price for it. But, one hopes we do not turn our already litigious society into a place where people are even afraid to share any information, any news (good or bad), because they could be sued for it.

On the topic of dumb and scummy lawsuits, I will post a comment later on another recent story. Until then, stay safe... don't get sued!

Imran

3 comments:

Sam!! said...

Well sir first thnx for the comment u left at my blog. Yeah u r so right that death is a constant risk n being a muslim we do belive that our life, death everything is in Allah's hands so that was all Allah's will we cant blame anyone. Another thing u wrote that the families of miners shud b paid for the lifes of their love ones, well i think sir nothing can replace a human life but yes that can help them to survive. I dnt know about the company's policies in this regard but every company do have some policies for these sort of situations. Miner company shud look into the matter in depth n shud take steps to make it sure that these sort of incidents does'nt take place in future.They shud definately do something for the suffering families.

takecare,
samrina.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I agree the response to sue was in poor taste. I percieved it as a very low brow response that tainted an already tragic situation. I'm not so sure that greed is the motiviating factor behind the distraught families threat to sue, at least not initially. It seemed to be more a reaction based in anger. I think the victims families may have a hard time establishing the burden of proof, and it would be found that there was no malicious intent involved.
If left to their own devices, they may calm down and change their mind about suing. On the other, if there's money to be made and fame to be found, I'm sure there will be eager lawyers contacting the families.

Blog on,
Dave

asal said...

Imran... I hear you, and what about the bomb threat at the Starbucks in San Francisco this January which turned out to be nothing but a flashlight with old batteries? The media help promote a Culture of Fear!

-zensufi-