Outrage as mine toll tops 300
Soma ( Turkey), May 17: Turkish rescue workers were on Saturday battling fires to reach the last two coal miners trapped by the country’s worst- ever industrial disaster that has killed 301 workers and led to a surge of anger over the government response.
Energy minister Taner Yildiz said two miners were still thought to be in the collapsed mine, based on information from families, while 485 have either escaped or been rescued since Tuesday’s explosion in the western town of Soma.
“We have identified their locations and will end the rescue operation after retrieving them,” Mr Yildiz told reporters in Soma.
A fire in a nearby part of the mine complex had hampered rescue operations earlier in the day but had been brought under control, he said. The nationwide trauma over the incident has turned to rage, fuelled by claims of negligence against mine operators and what many see as a heartless response from the government.
A preliminary expert report on the accident, obtained by the Milliyet newspaper, pointed to sev- eral safety violations in the mine, including a shortage of carbon monoxide detectors used to alert authorities, and ceilings made of wooden planks instead of metal, which caused the fire to spread quickly.
The report’s authenticity could not be immediately verified. Mine operator Soma Komur denied any negligence. “We have all worked very hard. I have not seen such an incident in 20 years,” said the general director.