Utah Miners

For almost two weeks we have followed the news on the six miners trapped in a Utah coal mine. It has been a hard story to follow, mostly because they are still trapped. On the news there are clips of the families hoping to hear some good news, volunteers standing by ready to do whatever they can, and news vans, hoping to capture the latest development. Most recently a cave-in killed three rescue workers and injured six of them. As a result, the search for the trapped miners was stopped. The mayor of the town was on GoodMorningAmerica on friday, and he talked about staying with the families of the trapped miners and trying to comfort them as best he could. The mayor also talked about losing his dad in a mining accident 50yrs ago, and how he knows what it is like to lose a loved one in such a horrible way; but that it does not make it any easier to say the right things to the grieving families.
A few of the miners said they didn't want to go back to work in that mine because it was unstable, this was right before the second cave-in that killed the three rescue workers.
In his article on the political affairs website, Joel wendland writes that the mine had 325 federal safety citations and that the mine was cited for not having a second escape passage in the same area where the miners got trapped in. http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/5734/1/278/
Wendland also writes that the fines have not been paid and the problems have not been rectified. Now there are three men dead, six trapped and we have no idea how much longer they can survive.
I wonder what will happen to the mine and mine owners, what kind of punishment will they recieve, besides worthless fines, for their failure to provide a safe working environment for their employees? What about the families? what kind of provision will be made for them if this doesn't end well? It is disheartening to see such hard working people go through difficult situations like these, makes it seem like they can hardly catch a break. My heart goes out to all the wives and children of the miners involved. It is not an easy time for them, and no words can soften the pain they feel, but our prayers go out to them, and we hope for the best.