Two more arrested after deadly mine disaster in Turkey’s Siirt

SİİRT

A further two people were arrested on Dec. 7 as a part of the ongoing investigation into a mine disaster in the southeastern province of Siirt, which left 12 miners dead and four missing last month, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Three suspects, identified only by the initials S.G., B.K. and İ.M.M., were referred to court following their detention on the grounds of negligence. The court on Dec. 7 ordered the arrest of the mine’s permanent supervisors S.G. and B.K., while releasing deputy operating manager İ.M.M on probation.

The permanent supervisors’ arrest brought the total number of arrests in the probe into the mine disaster to seven.

Their arrest also came one day after the court ordered the arrest of another four suspects, including occupational safety specialists identified only as M.K. and S.K., chief engineer S.K. and site manager K.Y.
On Nov. 19, the court had initially arrested Mehmet Oğuz, the mine’s operating manager.

Heavy rain reportedly triggered a landslide that buried 16 miners working at the Madenköy copper mine in the Sirvan district on Nov. 17.

Ten days after the disaster, the bodies of another two miners were recovered, as the total death toll increased to 12 in the incident.

The Madenköy mine is run by Park Elektrik, a member of the Ciner Group, which has operated the facility since 2006.