On Friday and over the weekend there was a desperate search for four of seven miners that had been trapped in a coal mine near Pontadawe. It was a grim exercise which had become invasive by media presence. We all read or saw the television news about the men that were trapped in the Gleision colliery and what a major operation it was after the men became trapped in the flooded shaft. Every family had the sympathy of the country - rightly so.
It is the first mining disaster for many years and there are many people, like myself, that did not know coal was still being mined in South Wales. But how did the families of the men feel with all the press and media attention during the most private and awful time that they are likely to experience. A day when it must have felt like Russian Roulette with names of the dead being released to them one by one no-one knowing who's body would be found next?
How do families respond at such a time? Through what mechanisms are they warned of media interest and by what criteria are these warnings assessed? We all want the news, but I suspect it's very hard ordinary families who live private lives to suddenly be thrust forth into a spotlight. I think in our thirst for the latest piece of news, whether it's to satisfy our curiosity or genuine interest in the subject or people, we forget about the grieving relatives rights to privacy at such a time.
We were all hoping last weekend for our own version of the successful Chilean Miners outcome which occurred last year, but sadly it was not to be.
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