[NYTr] Mexican Congress blames mining company for disaster

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Milt Shapiro (mexnews)

Reuters - Oct 5. 2007

Mexico Congress blames mining company for disaster

by Reuters

Mining company Grupo Mexico is largely to blame for an explosion that 
killed 65 men in A northern Mexican coal pit last year, a 
Congressional commission said on Friday.

Negligence on the part of Grupo Mexico, one of the world's top copper 
producers, allowed a build-up of methane gas and coal dust which 
exploded deep in the shaft and caused most of the mine to collapse, 
the commission said in a report on the accident.

The lawmakers also said blame for the February 2006 explosion was 
shared by government labor officials and the mineworkers union, who 
allowed work to carry on despite evident danger.

In April, a manslaughter trial of Grupo Mexico executives ended 
without prison sentences after one of the defendants paid damages of 
about $16,500 to each of the victims' families.

In Friday's report, the congressional commission recommended 
officials and company executives linked to the explosion be removed 
form their posts and banned from working in the industry.

Only two bodies have been recovered since the blast. Industrial 
Minera Mexico, the Grupo Mexico subsidiary that ran the mine, 
abandoned the search because of unstable conditions in the mine.

Grupo Mexico says it paid each family a one-off sum of close to 
$70,000 after the accident, plus several monthly payments.

Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited.