Two Sago Mine workers commit suicide

[madokie]

By VICKI SMITH, Associated Press Writer

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060927/ap_on_re_us/mine_explosion_suicides


MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Two miners whose jobs included watching for safety hazards inside the Sago Mine before the deadly explosion last January committed suicide in the past month.

Neither man had been blamed for the disaster that killed 12 of their comrades, and neither one's family has definitively linked the suicides to the accident. But those who knew the men say there is little doubt the tragedy haunted them.

"I'm not sure anybody ever gets over it," said Vickie Boni, the ex-wife of one of them. "You live with it every day."

Both men were working at the Sago Mine on the day of the blast and had been questioned by investigators along with dozens of other witnesses. One former co-worker said at least one of the men felt investigators were treating him as if he had done something wrong.

[Bunny]

1. This is just so sad. n/t

[madokie]

2. I suppose the lowering of the rules on safety are at the bottom of this

but these two guys were probably so distraught that they themselves didn't do more to warn of the conditions that allowed this tragedy to happen. It is so sad the fact that we let big money roll over us like we were nothing but dust to be scattered about. this ole boy has about had all the shit I can take of the War on the American People by this corrupt regime.

[Bunny]

3. It's not uncommon for survivors of such tragedies to end up

committing suicide. Survivor's guilt, I guess. Maybe not enough aftercare either, I don't know.

I was pretty infuriated by the Sago disaster, both in the way it was handled with the families and the overall safety deficiencies at that mine. Coal mining is just so dangerous, and yet companies still skimp on even the most basic safety measures. And the people who do this backbreaking work often have very little choice in terms of work opportunities. It just sucks.

[liberaldemocrat7]

4. Chalk this up to Republicans supporting unsafe working conditions.

I would point once again to the Republican party showing their contempt for safe working conditions.

Republicans tend not to want to regulate businesses. Once again it blows up in their faces.

[madokie]

5. as their whole she-bang is