AT LEAST 274 KILLED IN TURKISH MINING DISASTER
Death toll swells to 274 in Turkey; 150 workers still trapped
Soma, Turkey — As hopes began to fade Wednesday for hundreds of coal miners still trapped underground in a hellish explosion, anti-government protests broke out across the country, while victims’ families demanded answers in what is emerging as perhaps the worst industrial accident in the country’s history.
Thousands have gathered here in Soma, the nearest town to the mine, in hopes of getting news of relatives and friends whoare unaccounted for. Their frustrations erupted in a rock-throwing protest in front of the headquarters of the ruling Justice and Development Party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that was broken up by the police in clouds of tear gas. Demonstrations also broke out in Ankara, the capital, and in Istanbul.
Soma, Turkey — Amid wails of grief and anger, rescue workers coated in grime trudged repeatedly out of a coal mine Wednesday with stretchers of bodies that swelled the death toll to 274 — the worst such disaster in Turkish history.
Hopes faded for 150 others still trapped deep underground in smoldering tunnels filled with toxic gases.
Anti-government protests broke out in the mining town of Soma, as well as Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan heckled as he tried to show concern. Protesters shouted “Murderer!” and “Thief!” and Erdogan was forced to seek refuge in a su- permarket, surrounded by police.
The display of anger could have significant repercussions for the Turkish leader, who is widely expected to run for president in the August election, although he has not yet announced his candidacy.
Tensions were high as hundreds of relatives and miners jostled outside the mine’s entrance Wednesday, waiting for news amid a heavy police presence. Rows of women wailed uncontrollably and men knelt sobbing or simply stared in disbelief as rescue workers removed body after body, some charred beyond recognition.
One elderly man wearing a prayer cap wailed after he recognized one of the dead, and police had to restrain him from climbing into an ambulance with the body. An injured rescue worker who emerged alive was whisked away on a stretcher to the cheers of onlookers.
Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 people were inside the coal mine at the time of Tuesday’s explosion: 274 died and 363 were rescued, including scores who were injured.
The death toll topped a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near Turkey’s Black Sea port of Zonguldak. It also left 150 miners still unaccounted for.
Yildiz said rescue workers were trying late Wednesday to reach the bodies of up to 22 people trapped in one zone. Some of the workers were 1,400 feet deep inside the mine, he said.
One rescue worker who declined to be named said he led a 10- man team about a half-mile down into the mine’s tunnels, where they recovered three bodies before being forced to flee because of smoke from burning coal. Rescue operations were halted for several hours into this morning because high gas concentrations in the mine needed to be cleared.
The last miner rescued alive emerged from the mine around dawn and the first burials took place later Wednesday.
Giza Nergiz, a 28-year-old English teacher, said some of the victims had complained about safety at the mine.
“We buried three of our high school friends today,” she said, walking with her husband Onur Nergiz, a 30-year-old mine administrator. “A lot of people were complaining about safety, but nobody (in management) was doing anything about it.”
Erdogan declared three days of national mourning and postponed a trip to Albania to visit the mine in Soma, 155 miles south of Istanbul. He warned that some radical groups would try to use the disaster to discredit his government.
“Our hope is that, God willing, they will be brought out,” Erdogan said of those still trapped. “That is what we are waiting for.”
Yet his efforts to show compassion — discussing rescue operations with authorities, walking near the mine entrance, trying to comfort two crying women — did not always go over well.