[struwwelpeter]

Here in the eastern Ukraine the mines go pretty deep, and the trailings pile up high in scenic "terakony". In the town of Antratsit is the Komsomolsk mine which is over 1800 meters deep - more than a mile down. A few weeks ago it caught fire for the umpteenth time and the "brigadir" sent the next shift down anyway: ten dead.

Last year in Donetsk the Zasyadka mine blew out, taking ninety miners with it.

Some friends who used to be "shakhtyory" (miners) told that a day didn't go by when they weren't pulling someone's squashed corpse out from under rubble. When I told them about how the US was glued to their TVs, worrying about nine miners a few hundred feet down, they were amazed.

[Auntie Mame]

Great addition to this story. Thanks.

[11B3]

Thanks for your addition to this post - and for the photos as well. I have often wondered what the conditions were like in the mines in your part of the world, and I guess I got my answer. May your friends who mine stay safe - regardless of what the brigadirs tell them!

Back home in South Dakota there is a gold mine (Homestake) that was over 14,000 feet down (4km) - rock temperature 158 degrees F. Even they didn't pile up the tailings like your photo.