Working mining is still deadly in Spain

Gray day for Spanish mining. Bit before nine In the morning the Cerredo mine, in southern Asturias, registered an explosion that has left five deaths and four serious injuries. The first hypotheses point to Grisú gasbut beyond (dramatic) balance of victims or what have been the concrete causes of the tragedy, what happened in Asturias reminds us of something: in the middle of 2025 mining continues to support one of the Worst data of labor mortality of the country if the size of its workforce is taken into account.

The big question is: how is it possible?

What happened? That Spanish mining starts April. First thing in the morning the Cerredo mine, in the Council of Degaña, to the south of Asturias, registered an accident that resulted in five dead and four injured, two with serious burns and a third with a craniocerebral trauma. Two other workers have resulted unharmed. All the deceased are from the neighboring province of León and, according to The data that has been publishing the Government Delegation in Asturias, were between 32 and 54 years.

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What was the cause? The counselor of Ecological Transition of Asturias, Belamina Díaz, He has warned “It will take time to find out the causes”, but that does not mean that hypotheses are already handled. The main one is that the explosion that ended the life of the five miners and wounded another four is related to A Bag of Grisúa gas that is generated in the Hulla mines, is mainly composed of methane (more than 90%) and becomes flammable when mixing with the air, which can lead to violent deflagrations.

“We are going to wait to see what has happened”, He pointed out This morning Belarmina Díaz while the Police and Ministry personnel inspected the area. The Government delegate, Adriana Lastra, has even gone further to regret That “again” El Grisú advises “a bars.” Two of the employees who were in the area managed to leave unharmed after The explosion of a machine with which they worked several meters deep, at the third level of the mine.

Is it something new? If it is confirmed that the accident is related to Grisú, no. In October 2013 An escape from the same gas almost 700 meters deep cost the life of six miners who were slaughtered in the Pozo Emilio del Valle, in Pola de Gordón, León. On that occasion the Grisú Bag opened without any explosion, but the escape was so “sudden”, according to explained the company itselfthat the workers could not place the masks or flee.

The Grisú was also behind the one that is still considered the worst mining accident of Asturias, the one suffered in Nicolasa in August 1995. On that occasion the gas caused a violent explosion that took the life of 14 people ahead. Even more dramatic was the deflagration that hit a mine from northern Turkey in October 2022leaving a balance of more than 40 dead and a trail of injured. On other occasions the victims cause them landslides of tunnels and entrapments, as already happened in Degaña A decade ago.

Are accidents common? Events such as Cerredo serve to remember a sad reality of Spanish mining: their High accident rate. Not in absolute terms, but if we talk about the relative mortality rate, which relates the incidence of accidents with fatal victims and the number of workers. In that case, extractive industries leave the worst result, much higher than that registered by other sectors, such as transport, storage or electricity supply.

What supposes that in data? The balance of provisional labor accidents of 2024 published by the Ministry of Labor show a clear example. Last year the extractive industries left a balance of 1,220 accidents throughout the working day that left six dead. They are not many if compared to the 41,132 claims and 138 deaths registered in the transport and storage sector, but the photo changes if the “incidence index” is analyzed, which also takes into account the number of employees.

After all, in 2021 there were less than 30,000 workers in the extractive industry, in front of more than 700,000 in transport and storage, according to the statista portal. If this factor is taken into account, mining presents the worst mortality rate, with an incidence of 27.67 per 100,000 employees. Far from 12.6 of transport. At the general level, only construction exceeds the incidence of accidents of the extractive industries, although in its case the mortality index is much lower: in 2024 it stood at 9.61.

Has it always been like this? In general, mining takes time with a level of incidence of high fatal accidents, although the data can range from one exercise to another depending on the number of events. After all, that in the sector there are much less people than in transport, construction or storage assumes that a misfortune like that occurred this morning in Asturias alters the curve.

The country has examined The historical series since 2006 and the conclusion is clear: although the rate with which mining closed 2024 (27.7) is higher than that of other sectors is far from those that the guild supported years ago. In 2023 that incidence was 45.4 and in 2013 it even reached 52.19 dead per 100,000 employed. The reason is the accident recorded in the Emilio del Valle well, a sinister that resulted in half a dozen deaths.

What are the causes? A question similar to that was asked A few years ago A group of researchers from the Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) University, especially if you take into account the drop in activity in mining and the application of measures aimed precisely to prevent accidents. One of the keys they found was the lack of generational relief in the extractive sector and the aging of the template. The five deceased in the Gas Explosion of Degaña were nevertheless men of Between 32 and 54 years.

Belamina Díaz explained that the company to which the deceased and injured belonged had a “complementary research permit”, which implies “recognition work”. The goal It would be related to the possible use of mineral for graphite manufacturing.

Images | 112 Asturias (X) and B3Tarev3 (Flickr)

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