Lives of miners cheap compared to the price of coal

Underground mining accounts for about 60% of world coal production & has increased over the past 25 years despite all the blah blah blah about reducing reliance on fossil fuel energy. So have safety problems increased in countries involved in commercial mining of coal--from China to the US to India to Chile to Peru--all countries with a horrific record of mining entrapments & accidents & most with a record of child miners. Remember the 33 miners trapped in the Chilean copper mine in August 2010? Remember the nine Peruvian miners trapped in April 2012? Here is a list of accidents in  China's mines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coal_mining_accidents_in_China. In this photo, Liu Yunqing is carried out on a stretcher from the flooded pit of Qielichong colliery in Sandu Township of Leiyang City in central China's Hunan Province. Rescuers pulled to safety the first three of about a dozen miners trapped underground for more than three days in the flooded coal mine pit. The mine owner, Liu Yaping, is under police custody. Note the owner is private & not involved in state development of mining. (Photo by Bai Yu/Xinhua news service)