|
ArmchairExplorer
 
location:
Vancouver
 |  | Why mines are a bad idea
< on 5/18/2006 2:44 AM >
|  | | | From today's Globe and Mail:
Kimberley, B.C. — Four people who died in a mining accident at Teck Cominco's decommissioned Sullivan mine ...
RCMP said the first victim may have been dead for two days and the search for him after he failed to come home led to the other three deaths.
|
Mr. Ogilvie said an employee of Teck Cominco Ltd., which owns the old mine, discovered the man floating in the well of the above-ground pump house.
He went to his rescue after calling 911 but was himself overcome, Mr. Ogilvie said.
Two paramedics from the B.C. Ambulance Service responding to the call were also struck down,
|
Mr. Ogilvie said he was told the four may have succumbed to hydrogen sulphide, a toxic gas fatal in minute quantities.
|
Gas detector = GOOD. Gas detector + SCBA = BETTER.
|
|
dundertits
    
location:
at the beginning
Cave Cave Deus Videt
| | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 1 on 5/18/2006 3:25 AM >
| | | | no kidding that stuff is extremely deadly........
Kabbalah is an undramatic tradition that requires great patience and stability. One of the reasons for this tempo is that everyone has to mature his potential gradually and thoroughly at his natural pace. In this way his life's work unfolds at the right moment in his own and the cosmos's time.
Z.B.S. Halevi -- Kabbalah |
|
SilentSearch
  
location:
Cowtown
Gender: Male
My rebellion against the santa cursor! HoHoHo
| | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 2 on 5/18/2006 3:27 AM >
| | | | Not to speak ill of the dead but....
Rule #1 for rescuers is, "Don't become a victim yourself!"
I feel bad that there was the loss of two medics, but they should
have stayed out till trained and equiped teams showed up. Or at the very
least, more help.
Hard lesson to learn.
Official UE Safety officer and rescue specialist. |
|
dundertits
location:
at the beginning
Cave Cave Deus Videt
| | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 3 on 5/18/2006 1:26 PM >
| | | | I agree if you look at how many times this has happened over the years you would think that they would stop....
Kabbalah is an undramatic tradition that requires great patience and stability. One of the reasons for this tempo is that everyone has to mature his potential gradually and thoroughly at his natural pace. In this way his life's work unfolds at the right moment in his own and the cosmos's time.
Z.B.S. Halevi -- Kabbalah |
|
blackhawk
This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
location:
Mission Control
UER newbie
| |  | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 4 on 5/18/2006 2:10 PM >
| | | | Trouble is if no one saw that the victims were overcome by lack of O2 and/or toxic gases, and recognized it as such, there would be little to warn them. Better training, more manpower, and equipment would have made the difference.
Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.
|
|
Jonsered
location:
Back in New Mexico where I belong
Gender: Male
Dressed for a scarecrow ball.........
| |  |  | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 5 on 5/18/2006 2:32 PM >
| | | | I always hate to hear about these things, because it makes my favorite exploration look bad. Mines ARE dangerous. Heroin is dangerous. Bad neighborhoods are dangerous. Driving in city traffic is dangerous. Getting out of bed in the morning carries an inherent risk of death.
I'll have to check my log when I get home, but I'm guessing the number of mines I've been in in the last 30 years is nudging 400, vertical and horizontal. I've had one bad experience, and I had a bad feeling about the trip the whole time and just ignored it. Gas detectors are great. I have one, and I take it into most mines. I don't have an SCBA, and I don't feel the need for one. REMEMBER: If it feels like a bad idea, it is! If it feels like maybe you are in over your head, you are! Don't be stupid. Stay alert and stay alive.
Regardless, it sucks to be those four guys, and I feel terrible for their families. Let this be a lesson to everybody that enjoys mines, drains and tunnels. I don't want to see one of ya'll in the headlines.
Peace!
I have changed my personal exploring ethics code. From now on it will be: "Take only aimed shots, leave only hobo corpses." Copper scrappers, meth heads and homeless beware. The Jonsered cometh among you, bringing fear and dread.
|
|
dundertits
location:
at the beginning
Cave Cave Deus Videt
| | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 6 on 5/18/2006 3:22 PM >
| | | | can you elaborate on your bad experience???
Kabbalah is an undramatic tradition that requires great patience and stability. One of the reasons for this tempo is that everyone has to mature his potential gradually and thoroughly at his natural pace. In this way his life's work unfolds at the right moment in his own and the cosmos's time.
Z.B.S. Halevi -- Kabbalah |
|
Jonsered
location:
Back in New Mexico where I belong
Gender: Male
Dressed for a scarecrow ball.........
| | | | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 7 on 5/18/2006 3:57 PM >
| | | | Posted by originalquocky
can you elaborate on your bad experience???
|
I was in the Germany Tunnel, which is a multi level silver mine, and flooded. The water is about a foot deep in the surface level, and the three bottom levels are all flooded completely. I was walking into the mine, trying to be careful about where I put my feet, but I was stirring up silt and I couldn't actually see the bottom. The whole time I'm walking in, I had this weird feeling that I should really turn around and go back. You know, the "You are really a dumbshit and you are going to get f#@ked up" feeling. About 800 feet in I stepped forward onto what I thought was solid ground, but it turned out to be a piece of wood covering a vertical shaft. It had been soaking for 80 years or so, so I went right through it. I caught my right knee on either a nail or a remaining piece of solid wood and cut a hell of a hole right down to the bone. I went totally under water, and when I came up I realized that none of my flashlights were waterproof. I'm a desert boy, what do I need waterproof flashlights for? So when I come up, I know I'm hurt, but I can't see how bad, and I have no idea which way is out of the mine. I dragged myself back up onto the tunnel floor, and fished my Bic lighter out of my pocket (never leave home without the Bic) and blew on it and turned the thumb wheel until I had a spark, then lit it up and started checking my leg. Not good at all, and it was just at 4 miles back to the Samurai. At least with the Bic I could see where I had come in.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I gimped my dumb ass back to the car, drove on into Socorro to the emergency room and got my stitches and Tetanus shot and drove home. I now have several waterproof lights, and I use a stick to probe the ground in front of me when I'm in flooded mines.
Edited for spelling
[last edit 5/18/2006 3:58 PM by Jonsered - edited 1 times]
I have changed my personal exploring ethics code. From now on it will be: "Take only aimed shots, leave only hobo corpses." Copper scrappers, meth heads and homeless beware. The Jonsered cometh among you, bringing fear and dread.
|
|
dundertits
location:
at the beginning
Cave Cave Deus Videt
| | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 8 on 5/18/2006 5:45 PM >
| | | | damn...............
Kabbalah is an undramatic tradition that requires great patience and stability. One of the reasons for this tempo is that everyone has to mature his potential gradually and thoroughly at his natural pace. In this way his life's work unfolds at the right moment in his own and the cosmos's time.
Z.B.S. Halevi -- Kabbalah |
|
blackhawk
This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
location:
Mission Control
UER newbie
| | | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 9 on 5/18/2006 8:02 PM >
| | | | Posted by Jonsered
I was in the Germany Tunnel, which is a multi level silver mine, and flooded. The water is about a foot deep in the surface level, and the three bottom levels are all flooded completely. I was walking into the mine, trying to be careful about where I put my feet, but I was stirring up silt and I couldn't actually see the bottom. The whole time I'm walking in, I had this weird feeling that I should really turn around and go back. You know, the "You are really a dumbshit and you are going to get f#@ked up" feeling. About 800 feet in I stepped forward onto what I thought was solid ground, but it turned out to be a piece of wood covering a vertical shaft. It had been soaking for 80 years or so, so I went right through it. I caught my right knee on either a nail or a remaining piece of solid wood and cut a hell of a hole right down to the bone. I went totally under water, and when I came up I realized that none of my flashlights were waterproof. I'm a desert boy, what do I need waterproof flashlights for? So when I come up, I know I'm hurt, but I can't see how bad, and I have no idea which way is out of the mine. I dragged myself back up onto the tunnel floor, and fished my Bic lighter out of my pocket (never leave home without the Bic) and blew on it and turned the thumb wheel until I had a spark, then lit it up and started checking my leg. Not good at all, and it was just at 4 miles back to the Samurai. At least with the Bic I could see where I had come in.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I gimped my dumb ass back to the car, drove on into Socorro to the emergency room and got my stitches and Tetanus shot and drove home. I now have several waterproof lights, and I use a stick to probe the ground in front of me when I'm in flooded mines.
Edited for spelling
|
Yeh ha! Now that sounds like fun! Damn it's good you did have HEAVY gear on. You are a lucky bastard. You also deserve an award for showing goood taste to spite adverse life threating circumstances; you didn't call 911 like some pansy-ass pussy. You gimped your way out, half blind, in shock, dripping vital bodily fluids as you tripped out of the mine.
Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.
|
|
FoxTwoFoxTwo
location:
Clarksville, Tennessee
Gender: Male
I'm an explorer who photographs...
| | | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 10 on 5/18/2006 9:04 PM >
| | | | Posted by blackhawk
Yeh ha! Now that sounds like fun! Damn it's good you did have HEAVY gear on. You are a lucky bastard. You also deserve an award for showing goood taste to spite adverse life threating circumstances; you didn't call 911 like some pansy-ass pussy. You gimped your way out, half blind, in shock, dripping vital bodily fluids as you tripped out of the mine.
|
Let me add: "At a risk of passing out from unknown amounts of blood loss at any time, thus dying a slow unconscious, but very painful death."
God must love you. Be more careful next time, but I'm glad you made it out alive! 
Bringing exploration to Clarksville.
Journal: http://www.uer.ca/...id=4&catid=2000173 | RUAUER!?!?!?111ONE??QUESTIONMARK | FoxTwoFoxTwo - "I just ordered a large. I have a relatively huge head so yeah..." |
|
DrDeke
location:
Michigan
Gender: Male
| | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 11 on 5/19/2006 3:01 PM >
| | | | Posted by blackhawk
Yeh ha! Now that sounds like fun! Damn it's good you did have HEAVY gear on. You are a lucky bastard. You also deserve an award for showing goood taste to spite adverse life threating circumstances; you didn't call 911 like some pansy-ass pussy. You gimped your way out, half blind, in shock, dripping vital bodily fluids as you tripped out of the mine.
|
Well, even if he wanted to, it's kind of hard to call 911 inside of most abandoned mines. For some reason, the cell phone companies don't usually put towers inside of them...
-DrDeke
If you don't want it known, don't say it on a phone. |
|
blackhawk
This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
location:
Mission Control
UER newbie
| | | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 12 on 5/19/2006 4:41 PM >
| | | | Posted by DrDeke
Well, even if he wanted to, it's kind of hard to call 911 inside of most abandoned mines. For some reason, the cell phone companies don't usually put towers inside of them...
-DrDeke
|
Keeps you brave then , but still might work if you have near to, or line of sight to cell tower through mine opening.
Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.
|
|
Jonsered
location:
Back in New Mexico where I belong
Gender: Male
Dressed for a scarecrow ball.........
| | | | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 13 on 5/19/2006 4:48 PM >
| | | | I've got a field expedient radio for the large areas of New Mexico where there is no cell service. If I remember when I'm sober, I'll post a pic.
I have changed my personal exploring ethics code. From now on it will be: "Take only aimed shots, leave only hobo corpses." Copper scrappers, meth heads and homeless beware. The Jonsered cometh among you, bringing fear and dread.
|
|
Deuterium
location:
PNW
Gender: Male
| | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 14 on 5/21/2006 4:10 AM >
| | | | Posted by Jonsered
I was in the Germany Tunnel, which is a multi level silver mine, and flooded. The water is about a foot deep in the surface level, and the three bottom levels are all flooded completely. I was walking into the mine, trying to be careful about where I put my feet, but I was stirring up silt and I couldn't actually see the bottom. The whole time I'm walking in, I had this weird feeling that I should really turn around and go back. You know, the "You are really a dumbshit and you are going to get f#@ked up" feeling. About 800 feet in I stepped forward onto what I thought was solid ground, but it turned out to be a piece of wood covering a vertical shaft. It had been soaking for 80 years or so, so I went right through it. I caught my right knee on either a nail or a remaining piece of solid wood and cut a hell of a hole right down to the bone. I went totally under water, and when I came up I realized that none of my flashlights were waterproof. I'm a desert boy, what do I need waterproof flashlights for? So when I come up, I know I'm hurt, but I can't see how bad, and I have no idea which way is out of the mine. I dragged myself back up onto the tunnel floor, and fished my Bic lighter out of my pocket (never leave home without the Bic) and blew on it and turned the thumb wheel until I had a spark, then lit it up and started checking my leg. Not good at all, and it was just at 4 miles back to the Samurai. At least with the Bic I could see where I had come in.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I gimped my dumb ass back to the car, drove on into Socorro to the emergency room and got my stitches and Tetanus shot and drove home. I now have several waterproof lights, and I use a stick to probe the ground in front of me when I'm in flooded mines.
Edited for spelling
|
Are you saying your flashlights were destroyed? Flashlights don't go bad instantly when it gets flooded. Non water tight flashlight just won't live long once flooded, because water corrodes the contacts. Even the cheap $5 flash light should work fine for the rest of the day even if completely flooded.
|
|
Fleg
location:
Rio Rancho, NM
Gender: Male
| | | | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 15 on 5/25/2006 1:46 AM >
| | | | Glad I'm reading this now as I'm planning a trip to that are this weekend.
Note to self, stay out of Germany Tunnel!!!!
|
|
Jonsered
location:
Back in New Mexico where I belong
Gender: Male
Dressed for a scarecrow ball.........
| | | | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 16 on 5/25/2006 2:45 PM >
| | | | Posted by Deuterium
Are you saying your flashlights were destroyed? Flashlights don't go bad instantly when it gets flooded. Non water tight flashlight just won't live long once flooded, because water corrodes the contacts. Even the cheap $5 flash light should work fine for the rest of the day even if completely flooded.
|
Can't answer your queston there. I had three flashlights. When I got out of the hole and tried my lights, none of them would come on. I'm not an electrician, so I can't venture a guess as to what went wrong with two of them, but as for the one in my hand, the bulb simply exploded in the socket. I'm assuming the 60 degree water from the mine didn't agree with the hot bulb glass.
I have changed my personal exploring ethics code. From now on it will be: "Take only aimed shots, leave only hobo corpses." Copper scrappers, meth heads and homeless beware. The Jonsered cometh among you, bringing fear and dread.
|
|
SteamPunk
location:
Sailing the seas of sleaze.
| | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 17 on 5/25/2006 7:49 PM >
| | | | The accident did not happen in the mines, it happened in a tailings steam sediment measurement shack, and was only a few feet by a few feet.
I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me, and it'll happen to you, too! |
|
DrDeke
location:
Michigan
Gender: Male
| | Re: Why mines are a bad idea
<Reply # 18 on 5/26/2006 2:31 PM >
| | | | Posted by HypnoToad
The accident did not happen in the mines, it happened in a tailings steam sediment measurement shack, and was only a few feet by a few feet.
|
Huh?
-DrDeke
If you don't want it known, don't say it on a phone. |
|
Powered by AvBoard AvBoard version 1.5 alpha
Page Generated In: 93 ms
|
|
Ethics