ＮＺ 炭鉱爆発事故： 続報 ６ 石炭産業のこと その２
（その１ より続く）
※ 前回２回のものより小規模ではあるものの、本日１１月２６日現地時間午後３時３９分に３度目の爆発が起きています ⇒ Pike River disaster: another explosion at mine
【過去の炭鉱事故との類似性】
●http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_New_Zealand および
Coal and coal mining - Mining accidents - Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand より；
※ ＮＺでの主な炭鉱事故として挙げられているのは；
●21 February 1879
Kaitangata coal mine disaster, 34 miners died when candles caused an underground explosion
●26 March 1896
Brunner coal mine disaster, 65 miners killed by an explosion or by poisonous gases following the explosion.
⇒Brunner Mine 26 March, 1896 - New Zealand Disasters - Kids - Christchurch City Libraries
As of 2010 this is New Zealand's largest death toll from an industrial accident.
●12 September 1914
Ralph Mine, Huntly, a naked light caused an explosion that killed 43 coal miners
⇒Ralph's Mine - New Zealand Disasters - Kids - Christchurch City Libraries
●3 December 1926
Dobson coal mine, 9 killed by explosion
●24 September 1939
Glen Afton coal mine, Huntly, 11 asphyxiated by carbon monoxide
●19 January 1967
Strongman coal mine, 19 miners killed by explosion
⇒Strongman Mine Explosion - New Zealand Disasters - Kids - Christchurch City Libraries
●ＮＺの炭鉱の位置 （オリジナルはクリッカブルマップ）
出典： Coal and coal mining - New Zealand’s main coalfields - Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
●ウェストコースト地方の炭鉱の位置 （上掲のものより少し詳しい）
出典： West coast coalfields coal region NZ coal quality production and more by minerals west coast
今回の事故と上掲過去の事故の類似を指摘するコメントがあります；
◆Deaths should have been prevented - mining historian
Last updated 07:04 26/11/2010 / NZPA, Stuff.co.nz
−−−The geology of the Paparoa Ranges was notorious. Pike River is just 20km from the Brunner mine, where 65 died in 1896, and had the same gas issues, which the company was well aware of and had highlighted to investors in the week before the explosion.
Mr Morris said it probably only needed a cubic metre of methane and a spark to go off to have a devastating effect.
"But with the money they have spent developing that mine, it is just hard to comprehend that they have overlooked something about the ventilation, it's very hard to accept." （中略）
Pike River had haunting similarities to Strongman in 1967, he said. （以下略）
◆New Zealand and its mines
Taranaki Daily News, Last updated 09:51 23/11/2010
−−−Though there are echoes of similarity between the 1914 incident and Pike River （以下略）
ＮＺで多数の犠牲者を出した炭鉱事故は上掲の如く殆どが爆発によるもの、かつ同じ "Paparoa Ranges （連山・山脈）" に位置する炭鉱では過去にも同様の事故が起こっていますから、ガス対策が然るべく講じられていたのかが問題となりそう。
（その３に続く）
