Families of Trapped Chile miners Lodges a Claim Against Mine Owners

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CHILE (GaeaTimes.com) — Families of the 33 miners trapped underground in a mine in Chilie are going to lodge a claim against the mining firm San Esteban Primera. They are going to sue the site’s owner for negligence after it emerged that the owner repeatedly ignored warnings about safety concerns and was repeatedly fined for breaching regulations.

Between 2004 and 2010, the firm is understood to have accumulated 42 fines from various Chilean safety bodies for failing to protect its workers. The latest death in the company’s mine came in January 27, when a geologist’s assistant Manuel Villagran Diaz, was killed in an explosion at San Jose. After that the company was ordered to install ladders in escape tunnels for miners to use in the events of shaft collapses. But they completely ignored the order to save money.

According to Vincelot Tobar, who was in charge of risk prevention for San Esteban, company’s higher authority always put production before safety. He commented that,

They never carried out the most fundamental adjustments needed to avoid disasters like what we’re seeing today. They always pushed on production. I was the only risk assessor, without a computer, secretary or even a phone.

No comments has been made from San Esteban’s owner side till now. But they have warned the families of the trapped miners that it is considering filing for bankruptcy and may not be able to pay salaries owed to the miners when they finally emerge, let alone damages that might be awarded by the impending lawsuits.