Wednesday, October 11, 2006 Switch live wire set off blast By Mia E. Abellana Sun.Star Staff Reporter With Elias Baquero
A LIVE WIRE used to switch on a blower and a water pump inside a tunnel with methane gas caused a spark that led to the explosion inside a coalmine in Argao town last Monday morning.
Miners who worked for Adlawon Mining Resources Corp. told a Sun.Star news team that this was how they switched on the blower.
Vivencio Ermita, 30, of Barangay Balaas, Argao, said he was outside the shaft when he noticed a flow of air coming from inside.
When he noticed it, he knew that something bad happened.
Ermita said the blower and water pump did not have a proper switch.
They merely let the ends of two wires touch to turn on the blower, which most believe caused the spark.
A spark in an enclosed area with a high concentration of methane causes an explosion.
Methane
Energy department officials said that if there was more than 1.5 percent concentration of methane inside the mine, they should already start moving out.
Felix Amper, another miner, said they usually know when there is too much methane gas in the tunnel.
He said that if the pool of water inside the tunnel starts to show bubbles, it is usually a sign that there is too much methane in the air.
A team from the Department of Energy (DOE) 7 that inspected the mine last month already noted that miners did not take gas readings before entering the mine and had no logbook to record these readings.
The inspection was done last Sept. 11 and 12.
Engineer Gerald Cabizares, who was with the inspecting team last month, told reporters that they turned to the logbook when they made their quarterly inspections.
He said they already warned the management that they needed better equipment to detect hazardous gases.
Cabizares said the mine used a methanometer, which is used to detect methane (CH4).
Methane is an odorless, tasteless, colorless, inflammable, lighter than air gas formed by the decomposition of coal and other carbonaceous materials.
Warning
Though the methano-meter is reliable, he said methane is not the only gas they needed to look out for.
He said that aside from methane, which is explosive, carbon monoxide is just as dangerous because it is poisonous and is fatal when inhaled.
Carbon monoxide, he said, is formed after an explosion occurs.
Cabizares suggested that they get a multi-gas detector so they can ensure that the mine is safe for all miners.
As of yesterday, the inspectors were unable to enter the mine to verify information they gathered.
Engineer Eduardo Amante, chief of the DOE’s energy resource development and utilization division, said they could not compromise the safety of their inspectors.
He said that while poisonous gases are “inherent in coalmines,” they had safety procedures that needed to be followed.
He declined to say if he already found lapses in procedure, saying they have yet to collate all the data they have gathered.
Review
He explained that he was not the only one conducting the investigation and had to wait for the reports from other members of the investigating team.
In the meantime, they want Adlawon Mining to install a new blower and rewire the electrical connections in the tunnel to make sure more air from the surface can enter and dilute the dangerous gases.
Adlawon site engineer Jack Mangalay said the management was willing to comply with whatever the DOE 7 recommends so they can start operating again.
DOE 7 Director Antonio Labios said that he will endorse to Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla whatever findings and recommendations the team will submit to him after the investigation.
Under the law, Labios said, the DOE can only impose administrative fines plus the closure of the mining firm if the violations are serious. The law does not impose a penalty of imprisonment on violators.
Meanwhile, Argao Mayor Wilfredo Caminero has admitted in an interview with radio dyLA that he owns a mining area in his town. But Labios said Caminero is not in the list of people who were issued by DOE with a coal operation contract.
Labios also said that DOE has no funds for financial assistance to victims of mining disasters because, under the law, it is the obligation of the mining firm concerned to help their personnel.
