AsiaPundit, a journalist by day, returned to the office today after a late lunch and asked his invaluable assistant: “Is anything interesting happening?”

Invaluable Assistant:: “Mine explosion.”

Asiapundit: “How many?”

Invaluable Assistant:: “96… missing.”

TPD offers a link to a group of shots that are described as “beautiful”. They are indeed touching, and well done. But, with all respect to Richard, ‘beautiful’ strikes AsiaPundit as the wrong word.

The above photo is a ‘beautiful’ artistic shot. But it reminds AsiaPundit that the 6,000 or so men who die in the reported coal-mine accidents each year are only the tip of a very dark iceberg.

The 1940s were not an exemplary time for US labor standards, but do consider the following.:

In most coal miner photos that AP can recall from the West, the miners were at the very least wearing masks - albeit likely cotton ones - over their mouths and noses. Photos of unmasked miners usually revealed large white spaces around the mouths and noses, although their features were completely blackened everywhere else. But those were from enlightened times such as the 1920s-40s.

So, 6,000 or so will die in ‘unsafe’ coal mines this year in China. That’s bad, but in comparison to the numbers that AP expects will perish due to ‘black lung’ over the coming two decades, it’s probably statistically insignificant.

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