Why is it these incidents never make it to the American media?

Oil Company Blamed For Rig Blast in Brazil
Platform may sink in 2 days, creating spill
Sebastian Rotella / Los Angeles Times 17mar01
Sao Paulo, Brazil -- Union leaders and government officials accused Brazil's national oil company yesterday of failing to take precautions that could have prevented an accident that killed as many as 10 workers and damaged one of the world's largest offshore oil platforms.
Three explosions devastated the 40-story platform in the Roncador oil field in the Atlantic Ocean about 80 miles from the coast and 120 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. It is unclear what caused the explosions.
The accident left the colossal structure, which was commissioned just last year, leaning at a precarious angle and threatened to cause an oil spill.
Officials of Petrobras, the giant state oil company, said yesterday that the structure was likely to sink within two days and that emergency response teams in boats and helicopters were ready to mitigate a possible spill. Experts said such a spill probably would not significantly damage the environment.
Only one death has been confirmed, and one worker was hospitalized with severe burns. But nine missing workers are presumed dead.
The accident further damaged the image of Petrobras only months after a spill caused environmental damage in southern Brazil. The latest problem was expected to cause operating losses of hundreds of millions of dollars.
There were 175 employees on the Italian-made platform at the time of the explosions. The rig, which accounted for about 5 percent of the nation's daily oil production, was producing 80,000 barrels a day and was expected to reach a target of 180,000 barrels daily at full capacity.
Oil workers staged protests across Brazil yesterday. Union leaders allege that aggressive cost-cutting and the use of inexperienced contract workers have resulted in 82 deaths nationwide at company facilities in the past three years. Sixty-six of the victims were contract workers, according to union statistics.
Media reports yesterday said federal prosecutors who enforce job safety regulations alleged that the accident could have been prevented if the company had complied with judicial orders to create safety commissions at all its platforms.
But the company's manager for security and environmental issues, Irani Varella, said that Petrobras officials do not believe that safety problems were to blame.
And Petrobras denied allegations that the use of temporary contract workers played any role.
Like other state-run enterprises in Latin America, Petrobras has been modernizing and streamlining operations, cutting its payroll from 70,000 to 30, 000 during the past seven years. The company racked up record earnings last year, but the opening of the market worries unions and other critics.