Parliamentary commission visits landslide-hit Erzincan mine

ERZİNCAN

A parliamentary commission has conducted inspections at the site of a gold mine in the eastern province of Erzincan nearly three months after nine workers were trapped underground in the landslide.

The commission received insights from a senior official from the country’s emergency agency.

Since the incident, trucks have made a total of 195,000 trips, transporting 3.8 million cubic meters of soil from the displaced area, Orhan Tatar said.

Nine workers were buried under the soil in the landslide that occurred on Feb. 13 at the gold mine site in the İliç district.

While the bodies of four have been retrieved so far, search operations for the remaining five continue.

The commission on May 8 paid visits to four families of the workers whose bodies were retrieved from the soil.

Meanwhile, a report on May 8 showed that Türkiye’s coal mining hub Zonguldak witnessed operations targeting 157 illegally operated mines in the past three months.

According to official records, over the past decade, 44 miners lost their lives in various accidents in these unlicensed mines lacking necessary safety measures.

The northern province is home to several coal mines that operate unofficially, with workers in these clandestine mines working for daily wages ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 Turkish Liras, the report said.