Mar,+Derek


 * South African Miners Saved by Rescuers**

On October 4th, 2009 African miners were finally saved after being trapped in a mine for at least 24 hours. One source had reported that the source of the incident that caused them to be trapped was because of a power cable accident. The other source had reported that it was because a pressurized air pipe snapped at the mine near Johannesburg and tumbled down a shaft that day and damaged the elevator. But the main point was that they were trapped for a long time and they were rescued back up to the surface by going in a cage that was another shaft and could only hold 75 miners at a time. There was about 3,200 workers trapped so in a hour they could bring up 300 total. Once people were brought up, they were like shouting with excitment and joy also some were crying. Some quotes from some of the miners were "We nearly died there", "I'd rather leave (the job) than die in the mine", "It had been 30 hours of suffering, we had no food, no water, and we are exhausted." The owner of the mine was Harmony Gold Mining Co. who was criticized for the lack of safety in that mine due to Harmony's practice of mining, 24 hours a day. They would close the mine for at least six weeks following the incident. The name of the mine which is Elandsrand and also owned by Harmony is the third largest producing mine in South Africa. Also gold is very important for Africa's economy even though the industry for gold has been on the decline for several years. This mine, Elandsrand had won a couple of safety awards and had not seen any big or fatal accidents.

Sources: BBC: [] Fox News: []

The coverage of this story by both sources had similar info, both had different information than the other. Such as the reason for why the miners were trapped down in the mine, BBC said it was because of a power cable accident and The New York Times talked about an air pipe snapping. Both sources had different quotes from different people like for instance, BBC had this quote "It has been 30 hours of suffering," he said. "We had no food, no water and we are exhausted." and The New York Times had this "We nearly died down there," one man yelled as he walked past reporters. "I'd rather leave (the job) than die in the mine." These quotes I just refered to were just examples of a quote that the other source didn't have. The New York Times had more pictures of the incident and BBC had only one picture. But BBC gave this map of the mine of what's like inside there and what shafts were used for to help get the workers out.

My opinion on this is that it was good news that no one died inside there because I mean based on the article someone had said they had no water but a spokeswoman, Amelia Soares had said the workers were well ventilated and had access to water. Also if I was one of the workers trapped there I would freak out a little bit because I wouldn't understand how you wouldn't freak out a little bit unless you were a calm, collect person. But I think both news sources covered this incident pretty well though each source had its differences when it came to their facts. Some of their facts were kind of iffy based on accuracy compared with each other, but most of their information seemed accurate and good.