Digging coal deep underground, Luo Xianglai learned to listen hard to the sounds the rocks made when struck with his pick-axe.
A dull thud usually meant solid rock and safety. A whistling noise signaled an impending cave-in.
"Usually you could tell it was coming," said Luo, a squat, 33-year-old with broad-shoulders, a buzz cut and a worried look. "The rocks would start singing, letting off a whistling sound. We would get out in a rush."
On a cold December day two years ago, the rocks did not sing. A cave-in buried Luo under fallen ceiling planks and more than 2m of rock, 100m down a mine shaft. His right leg was crushed, ending his brief mining career and returning him to the life of an impoverished farmer -- this time, with a steel rod inserted in his leg.
Coal mining remains one of the world's most dangerous trades. In China, a fast-growing economy and heavy demand for cheap energy have combined in a deadly way. By official count, more than 4,700 died last year in Chinese coal mines.
The coal industry is booming worldwide, driven by economic growth in China and India and by a return to coal for electric power generally, including in the US. While Chinese miners toil for a couple hundred dollars a month, mine owners in Taiyuan, the sooty capital of Shanxi Province, drive BMWs and invest in real estate in the capital city of Beijing.
Miners themselves are often complicit in the deadly bargain. Accidents are hushed up. Miners fear reprisals if they report them. And some do not want to see their mine shut down for an accident investigation, depriving them of work.
"Some miners fear poverty more than mining disasters," said Cao Yu (
Even in wealthy nations, where mining is more mechanized and safety regulations are better enforced, risks remain. And as mining booms, it often leads to increased risk -- and deaths.
The US has had three major fatal accidents in the last two years. In the most recent one, workers were digging out coal that previously had been judged too dangerous to mine.
The collapse in August left six miners presumed dead at Utah's Crandall Canyon Mine. US federal inspectors had warned of deteriorating conditions, though another federal agency had approved the work.
"Mining is inherently high risk and will always remain so as long as it is done by people," said Dave Feickert, an independent mine safety consultant based in New Zealand, who has worked extensively in China. "All underground mines face the same problems. It takes eternal vigilance to stay on top of it."
In northern India, 50 miners died in a methane gas explosion last year in the hilly coal country around Dhanbad. Small operators cut corners, putting profits ahead of safety, inspectors and miners say.
"We are often trapped in the coal mines during monsoon," said Jeetan Ram, who recalled a mine flood that drowned 29 fellow miners in 2001. "We are at the mercy of the rain god."
The death toll in China is on another scale. By official count, 4,746 workers died last year in coal mines. China's fatal accident rate of two deaths per million tonnes of coal mined is 50 times higher than the US' and nine times that of India.
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