Sunday 5 April 2020

Seventeen deaths in two mine explosions in Colombia in two days.

A total of seventeen miners have died and five more have been injured in explosions at two separate coal mines in Colombia this week. The first explosion happened at the San Cayetano Mine in Norte de Santander Department, on Friday 3 April 2020, leaving six miners dead and one recovering in the  Erasmo Meoz University Hospital in Cucuta. The second happened at a mine at Cucunuba, in Ubaté Province in the Cundinamarca Department, on Saturday 3 April, and killed eleven miners, injuring four more.

Firefighters carrying out a rescue at a mine in Cucunuba, Colombia, on Saturday 4 April 2020. AFP.

Coal is formed when buried organic material, principally wood, in heated and pressurized, forcing off hydrogen and oxygen (i.e. water) and leaving more-or-less pure carbon. Methane is formed by the decay of organic material within the coal. There is typically little pore-space within coal, but the methane can be trapped in a liquid form under pressure. Some countries have started to extract this gas as a fuel in its own right. When this pressure is released suddenly, as by mining activity, then the methane turns back to a gas, expanding rapidly causing, an explosion. This is a bit like the pressure being released on a carbonated drink; the term 'explosion' does not necessarily imply fire in this context, although as methane is flammable this is quite likely.

Coal is also comprised more or less of pure carbon, and therefore reacts freely with oxygen (particularly when in dust form), to create carbon dioxide and (more-deadly) carbon dioxide, while at the same time depleting the supply of oxygen. This means that subterranean coal mines need good ventilation systems, and that fatalities can occur if these break down.

See also...

https://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2019/12/magnitude-60-earthquake-in-meta.htmlhttps://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2019/04/landslide-kills-at-least-fourteen-in.html
https://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2019/03/magnitude-61-earthquake-in-valle-de.htmlhttps://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2018/04/colombian-gold-miners-trapped-by.html
https://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2018/01/thirteen-dead-after-landslide-pushes.htmlhttps://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2018/01/magnitude-51-earthquake-in-santander.html
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