Efforts to find 10 trapped workers ongoing in Siirt mine

SİİRT – Anadolu Agency

AA photo

Rescue teams are continuing efforts to locate 10 workers who were trapped underground by a massive landslide at a copper mine in the Şirvan district of the southeastern province of Şırnak after the bodies of six of the miners’ colleagues were pulled from the site.

In the operations that are being conducted with a group of around 100 rescue workers under the leadership of the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), a number of construction machines have been operating to clear the area in which 1.4 tons of soil fell, burying the workers. The teams are working to remove the mass of soil with large trucks.

On Nov. 20 the body of one more mine worker, Sedat Bulut, was found and removed from the area, bringing the number of confirmed fatalities to six. 

On Nov. 18 and 19, the bodies of Murat Ant, Reşit Can, Abdulbaki Aydın, Ali Sönmezsoy and Şefik Tuncer were found. 

Meanwhile, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak and Health Minister Recep Akdağ recently visited the site. Akdağ said that during the operations, the opinions of the families of the trapped workers were also being taken and that these were being evaluated by experts, adding that “all efforts” were being exerted to remove the trapped workers. 

Five people employed by the mine-owning company, Park Elektrik A.Ş., were detained in the investigation opened after the landslide, which is suspected of having occurred after heavy rain in the region. On Nov. 19, a court in Şirvan arrested Mehmet Oğuz, who was among those detained, on charges of criminal negligence.
  
Meanwhile, in the latest hearing of the 2014 Soma mine accident that killed 301 workers, a Manisa court on Nov. 21 decided to wait to receive an expert report over the incident and ordered the continued detention of arrested suspects who are charged with negligence in the major incident.