Miner killed in landslide in Zonguldak

ZONGULDAK – Anadolu Agency

DHA photo

One miner was killed in an accident at a mine in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak on Aug. 11, after being trapped under a mine the previous day due to a landslide. 

Rescue workers found the miner’s body under the debris after 11 hours of searching at the mine, which is operated by the state Turkish Coal Institute (TTK).

Sezai Aslanbaş was married and had two children, and started working in the mine in 2009. 

The accident came two days after a worker was killed in a tunnel accident in Zonguldak, Anadolu Agency reported. Aytaç Çapri, 32, was killed after an iron cover weighing three tons fell on him during a dynamite explosion as part of a tunnel construction. 

An engineer and a construction vehicle operator were released after giving their testimonies about the incident. 

The accident took place in the Mithatpaşa Tunnel, which is being constructed between the Mithatpaşa and İnağzı neighborhoods. 

Çapri started his job one and a half months ago, earning a monthly wage of 1,700 Turkish Liras. 

Ayhan Çapri, his brother, claimed that there was “negligence” in the incident. 

“They will pay the price. An iron cover that was not tied to anything fell on my brother. I am an operator too but I always tie it and I never cause accidents. There is negligence here,” he said.

Meanwhile, one worker was killed in a traffic accident on Aug. 11 involving a minibus carrying people who worked in hazelnut collection in the Black Sea province of Ordu. Pempe Çelenk, 45, died in Ordu State Hospital while fellow-worker İrem Güngör remains in a critical condition. Twenty-three others were also injured in the same accident. 

Separately, one worker was killed after falling from the eighth floor of a building construction in Central Anatolian province of Kayseri on Aug. 10. Yavuz Dilbaz, 37, died in hospital. 

Another worker, 59-year-old Abdulkerim Aşık was killed in the same city on the same day due to an electricity leak at a construction site.