Three arrested over mine collapse in Turkey’s Milas

MUĞLA

A court in the Aegean district of Milas on Feb. 20 ordered the arrest of the owner and two officials of a company in connection with a mine disaster which killed three workers and severely injured one.

The three suspects, the owner of the company operating the mine and two company officials, were detained on Feb. 19 by the gendarmerie.

On Feb. 20, following their referral to the courthouse, all suspects were arrested upon the court’s ruling.

In the morning hours of Feb. 18, a feldspar mine collapsed, leaving four miners under wreckage in the Milas district of the Aegean province of Muğla.

Ambulances and rescue teams were dispatched to the scene after other workers of the mine managed to notify the officials.

The lifeless body of miner Şükrü Otlak was recovered, while Tayfun Akıncı, who was severely injured, was immediately hospitalized before being discharged from hospital on the same day.

The bodies of the remaining two miners, Servet Çapacıoğlu and Engin Tutuk, were pulled out after 15-hour efforts of the rescue teams.

Deceased worker Tutuk’s brother claimed the mine was unlicensed, local media reported.

Muğla’s Chief Pubic Prosecutor İlyas Yavuz, however, denied the allegations.

There was no blast in the mine, but the collapse occurred when boulders previously blasted were being removed from the area, Milas’ Chief Public Prosecutor Adem Efe had said in a written statement on Feb. 18.