The wound that opened with the death of three geologists in the Cabanasses mine, in Súria (Barcelona) is still far from being closed. One year ago today, around 7:35 in the morning, a 1.9-ton slab fell off the roof of one of the mine's galleries and fell on top of three young geologists who were analyzing the potash vein. Óscar Molina, Victoriano Pineda and Daniel Álvarez—aged 28, 29 and 31 respectively—died in an accident that the company that operates the mine, Iberpotash, maintains from the beginning was “unforeseeable,” a statement that the investigation summary judicial questions. A year later, the case is still in the investigation phase, and despite the tributes and recognitions that comfort the families, their pain remains unhealed: “They were three wonderful, extraordinary children, and it was not their turn to die that day. It was an avoidable accident, but it happened, and what remains is sadness,” says María José González, Victoriano's mother.
The indignation of the families has a clear origin: the contradiction between what the company has maintained since, a month and a half after the accident, it made public part of its internal investigation — that the event was unforeseeable and that there was no way to have prevented it. — and what some witnesses, the Catalan police and part of the documentation provided in the case show: the Mossos suspect that the excavation of an unplanned part of that gallery weakened the ceiling and was the cause of the accident. Precisely in that area a rock had fallen an hour before, and the workers who saw it left a record of the alert — “Watch out for the roof!!!” they wrote in a report — but this warning did not reach the geologists, who They had already entered the mine because the schedules overlapped.
At the mine today there will be a minute of silence before each shift, and during the day of remembrance the Rock Mechanics department of Iberpotash will plant an olive tree in memory of the deceased. The mining community, which always shows a strong sense of devotion and respect for those who die at work, has placed two figures of Saint Barbara, the patron saint of miners, on the premises and will celebrate a mass.
Victoriano's mother expresses that she has gone through moments of anger, indignation and rage, but that ultimately sadness remains. “Because you no longer have the future that you had imagined, which was him finishing his doctorate, doing a postdoctorate, and it was him being here at home,” he says from Almoradí, a town in the Baja Vega region (Alicante), where Victoriano's family is, and where today family and friends will pay tribute to him with photographs and songs from the music group in which he played bass. “He was a person who never had a bad gesture, he transmitted peace, serenity and tranquility. It is very difficult to accept it,” explains González. Pedro Molina, Óscar's father, explains that his son “loved geology.” He lives in Sant Joan de Vilatorrada, near Manresa and the Súria mine. “He did the internship there, he liked it, his boss also liked him and he stayed. He loved his work. It is sad that a person goes to work and leaves lifeless.” Pedro explains that there have been many tributes and that people “have been very good,” but he regrets that the company has not contacted them. “We firmly believe that these are deaths that could have been avoided,” he says.
The three families met last November at the graduation ceremony of the Manresa Higher Polytechnic School of Engineering, linked to the UPC, where Óscar and Daniel were studying the master's degree in mining engineering. At the ceremony, the families were given their graduation diplomas, and everyone attended, including Daniel's family, of Colombian origin. The three geologists combined their studies with work at Iberpotash—where Molina had been a rock mechanic for three years, Pineda had had a temporary contract for three months, and Álvarez had had an internship contract for only 11 days—and the faculties where they studied. They have organized or are preparing several tributes.
The UPC in Manresa named a study room in his honor, and at the UB, Lluís Gibert, Victoriano's thesis tutor, explains that the room for doctoral scholars where he worked will bear his name, as will two awards ( the best poster presented by doctoral students at each congress of the International Society of Sedimentology, and the best monologue at the UB doctoral research and dissemination days). “The objective is to remind the victims so that in the future all safety protocols in mining are followed more rigorously, and that accidents like this do not happen again,” explains the professor. The dean of the Faculty of Earth Sciences, Albert Soler, explains that to this will be added that in June Pineda will be awarded a doctorate posthumously, during a conference that will focus on the geological period that he studied. the Messinian. A rock from the tertiary period will also be installed in the faculty, near the geological garden, which will be in recognition of the three deceased. “The faculty has been very affected, I never expected to have a blow like this, I hope it does not happen again. We know that our work has risks, but that does not mean that they do not have to be evaluated,” says the dean.
What affects the most is what happens closest. So you don't miss anything, subscribe.
Subscribe
You can follow EL PAÍS Catalunya in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_
#year #tragedy #Súria #avoidable #accident #remains #sadness