Chinese worker killed in mine collapse in Turkey’s Bartın

BARTIN – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

One Chinese worker was killed and another was injured, after a coal mine collapsed in the Black Sea province of Bartın on Sept. 19.

The accident happened at around 11.00 a.m. at a private coal mine in the Amasra district’s Tarlaağzı neighborhood, when piles of coal collapsed next to the area where miners prepare for work.

The two Chinese workers were recovered from the rubble by their colleagues. One died at the scene while the other was rushed to Bartın State Hospital.

The firm that owns the mine Hattat Holding’s Chairman Mehmet Hattat told daily Hürriyet on Sept. 19 that accidents are in the nature of this occupation.

Nature of occupation

“Unfortunately such an accident took place. These [accidents] are in the nature of this occupation, just like our president has previously said,” said Hattat, repeating President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s statements on the tragic deaths of 301 miners in a coal mine in the Soma district of Manisa in the May 13 accident. Hattat also said 220 Chinese miners work at their mine.

Hattat also said coal is not being taken out of the soil in that mine, but that workers are opening the underground roadways. He also said there are no miners trapped in the mine.

A total of 301 coalminers were killed in a disaster in the western town of Soma on May 13, the worst mining accident in Turkey’s history, which brought the conditions of mines across Turkey under the spotlight.