"For every miner who was rescued before the cameras this week, more than 400 others will die this year, experts say."

Some words to remember from the New York Times Green blog.

Typical perceptions of the relative riskiness of various professions are inaccurate. People typically view "Protective services" (which I'm assuming includes police and firefighters) as very risky. However, they're not nearly the most risky occupration. If you look at the relative riskiness of various professions (as you can find in this University of Chicago paper, particularly on page 27), they're actually 8th on the list of dangerous classes of occupation.

Forestry and fishery rank ahead of them, with an occupational death risk over 10 times as high. Transportation workers, farmers, and certain groups of construction workers also fit ahead of them on the spectrum.