The three geologists who died on March 9 in an accident inside the Cabanasses mine, in Súria, not they were alerted that the roof from which the one fell from smooth carnalite was unstable. According to the conclusions of the Mossos d’Esquadra report, to which El País has had access, 80 minutes before the accident a rock of about 20 kilos had already fallen right next to, only about 2 meters from where the events took place. The study by the police force considers that there was a chain of errors and negligence that led to the fatal outcome of the three geologists, Oscar Molina, Daniel Álvarez and Victoriano Pineda. The report prepared by the company and blessed by the Generalitat, as this newspaper advanced, already explained that a previous landslide had occurred. Even so, then he made sure that the stone had fallen about 8 meters away and that he was not related to the fatal accident nor had he caused it. This information had not been communicated to the three geologists involved in the incident.
The first stone fell at 6:15 a.m.. At that time, an experienced miner believed that the area was not safe enough, removed the machine and informed the mine watchman that a stone had fallen and that he did not trust the ceiling. In addition also left in writing with the message that said “Be careful, roof!!!”. The alert, however, never came to the geologists, who at that time were already working inside the mine and who, 80 minutes after the fall of the first stone, were victims of a 1.90-ton smooth carnalite at that place.
The Mossos d’Esquadra they questioned different mine workers. One of them, according to El País, was the watchman who received the alert from the first miner, José Luis S. This watchman acknowledged that did not transmit the facts because the operators were already leaving and the machine was in a safe zone. “It was a stone like many have fallen, I thought it was not necessary“, collects the police report. In this sense, the guard assures that they left the machine in a position that alerted that it did not have to go through here, but this measure that does not include the protocols, was not enough. In this way, the change in the work shift also played a role in the accident.
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The police report also highlights that the night shift group that worked In that area, before the arrival of the geologists, he opened a “secondary nozzle” to maximize the performance of the mine, a fact that, according to El País, gives incentives to the miners who carry it out. This is standard practice, but the question is whether this task compromised stability from the roof of that area, where two large rocks ended up falling that morning. The Mossos are not blunt and consider that “it cannot be ruled out that the stability of the roof at the accident site could have been compromised.”
Iberpotash, the company in charge of exploiting the mine, issued a report last April in which it defended that there was no sign of instability in the wall of the roof of the mine where the fatal accident occurred. Consulted by Regió7, the company refers to that report and ensures that the fatal accident was unpredictable despite previous rock fall at the scene of the accident 80 minutes before the events. At that time, the company already recognized that there had been a communication error but disassociated it from the fatal accident.