Bodies of three workers found in coal mine wreckage in southeastern Turkish province

ŞIRNAK – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

The bodies of the three mining workers who were trapped by wreckage during mining works in the southeastern province of Şırnak on Sept. 2 were found on Sept. 3.

The bodies of Süleyman Gökalp, Mahmut İçkale and Hüseyin Bekçi were reached at around 2 a.m., a day after part of the mine collapsed.

The three workers had been trapped in wreckage as a result of stones falling at the entrance of the coal mine in Şırnak’s Alaköy rural area on Sept. 2.

The bodies, which were discovered by civil defense teams coming from Diyarbakır with trained dogs, were sent to the morgue of the Şırnak State Hospital.

Şırnak’s Provincial Special Administration Secretary-general Kazım Zan opened a probe into the incident, which included a group of geologists and mining engineers.

Gökalp was the eldest of Ahmet and Sıdıka Gökalp’s three children, two of whom were disabled. Gökalp had started to work as an assistant to İçkale, the heavy construction equipment operator, at the beginning of this summer, right after he graduated from high school.