Official experts find company, state audits guilty in mining disaster in Central Anatolia

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

DHA Photo

An official expert report on the deadly mine accident in the Ermenek town in the Central Anatolian province of Karaman has proven that the disaster was not natural, but caused by technical neglect, while also citing that miners were poorly trained.

The report said the water that caused a flood inside the mine was not from underground waters, but the waste water in older coal production galleries, which was not deposited.

The report found Ermenek Cenne Lignite Coal Enterprises Chairman and Responsible Manager Abdullah Özbey and Has Şekerler Mining Company owner responsible for genuine fault, along with the General Directorate of Mining Affairs (MİGEM) on behalf of its audits.

“The work carried on the plan was not timely noted,” said the report, highlighting that this should be done often, especially when the mining section becomes close to older mines.

An emergency button that could stop a crane was out of reach, the report also marked.

The drilling for waste water were at approximately three meters, compared to the required 25 meters, it said, adding that proper drilling would have helped avoid the disaster and indicate the squeezed water.

The rapporteurs said they were unable to find any reports on training for miners, which should be practiced at least once a year, also saying that the miners did not know what to do during the accident.

Eighteen miners were killed after they were trapped underground following a flood at a coal mine in Ermenek on Oct. 28, 2014. This was only six months after 301 miners died at a mine in Soma in the Aegean region on May 13, 2014 in the worst ever industrial accident in Turkish history.