Welsh Mining Tragedy: Is It Just Me...

[Philtaz]

..who feels there is a lot more being made of it in comparison to other similar events? I don't wish to sound cynical or de-sensitised but when this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...es-mid-wales-13153839

tragedy happened it barely got a mention. There was certainly not the amount of media coverage as for the miners, whose loved ones are obviously devastated and understandably so.

I could understand the level of coverage had the death toll been greater but I'm just perplexed at the media frenzy/circus that appears to have swamped this tragedy. One report on the BBC last night even focussed on a bag of rubbish from meals that had been left by rescue teams who had been working at the site.

Or, as I asked, is it just me?

[fliptheswitch]

I know what you mean.
However, loads of awful things happen and don't make the news. That's just the media, though... I guess.

Really sad article :-(

[welshlibranr]

not sure phil, maybe because it was a mining tragedy!........very uncommon these days, and that it was in a small community!.....

[sherrardk]

Maybe it's because the article covers an event that happened and there was no hope, whereas the mining accident had an air of hope to it, that somehow, someone would come out alive?

[fliptheswitch]

Yes, agree with Welshi actually. As I said on the other thread, it's not really something you hear much of these days. Perhaps that's why it got such huge coverage.

[Philtaz]

This tragedy also sticks in my mind for some reason,(I think it was because I'd driven past it some weeks prior) yet it barely got a mention. I know it's a while back, but it got nowhere near the coverage of the mining incident:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3084859.stm

Are the media trying to over-sensationalise such events lately?

[welshlibranr]

sure that's the reason flip, not many working mines in the UK these days, and in a small community!........still very sad for the families left behind!....

[China Doll]

No, not just you.

[sara3]

well that link relates to an incident 12 years ago.

the miners were working in terrible conditions, there was an "incident" and we all waited to hear news. it's the waiting and constant updates that keeps it in the news.

[fliptheswitch]

Bloody hell Philtaz, you are really bringing the mood down tonight, aren't you!
Seriously, what's with all the depressing links? :-(

[mrsmaveric]

i dont mean to sound horrible,and these deaths are tragic,but years ago when the coal industry was thriving there were accidents that used to claim dozens of lives per incident ie cave ins,explosions and the like,i guess its just that the mining industry is nearly obselete now in the uk that any tragedy is going to be headline news...rip to the brave men of the latest accident and my thoughts are with the families..god bless...

[Philtaz]

Apologies if I've ruined the night flip....!

Maybe I really AM a bit too cynical or de-sensitised, I don't know, but when the reported pointed to the bag and its contents I felt they (and maybe I) lost a bit of perspective.....

[annie0000]

The main reason is that the media were hoping for a long drawn out tense affair with a bit of doubt about whether the miners were alive or not. Whilst I have every sympathy with the families of those that perished, people die in tragic circumstances every day and they don't try to organise public collections etc. The whole media thing just puts me off.

[Philtaz]

reporter pointed, not reported....

[fliptheswitch]

That's just it though, MrsMaveric. I was speaking to my Dad about this, and he said people died all the time when he was mining.
It's just not such common practice these days though, so that's why it's hit the headlines.
I reckon the whole 'Chilean miners' news had something to do with it, though.

[fliptheswitch]

Lol Phil. Nah, I was just messing. I understand what you mean. It is sad/bad that some stories/tragedies get more coverage than others.

[welshlibranr]

annie, that's the way folks are down here, they will always try to help families of lost miners, that's the way it always has worked years ago when these tragedies happened much more often!....they have always tried to help the families who have lost their bread winner!.......the tradition lives on in the South Wales Valleys!..........Long may it reign!.....

[Buenchico]

It's not 'just you', Phil.

Fishing and farming are both more dangerous than mining in this country but accidents within those industries often hardly get mentioned in the news.

However I can see that mining (and sometimes fishing) disasters provide better news stories for editors than, say, farming accidents do. Firstly there can be more victims from a single accident and secondly (because of the search for survivors) the story is 'ongoing' over an extended period, rather than an isolated incident.

[boxtops]

I think it's that it's to do with mining which in so many of our histories - and to most people, the thought of being trapped underground is one of our worst nightmares.

[Philtaz]

Agree there totally flip. My stepdad was a miner for 37 years years and his grandfather died in this local tragedy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresford_disaster

so I'm not exactly ignorant of such incidents!

[fliptheswitch]

Phil, I think when you've had some kind of personal experience of mining tragedies (as you have) then it makes it all the more sad :-(