Soma, Turkey’s
four biggest unions will hold a one-day protest strike Thursday as anger over
the country’s worst mining accident mounts, with 282 workers confirmed dead and
scores still trapped underground.
The unions said workers’
lives were being put at risk to cut costs, and demanded that those responsible
for the collapse of a coal mine in the western town of Soma in Manisa province
be brought to account.“Hundreds of our workers have been left to die from the
very beginning by being forced to work in cruel production processes to achieve
maximum profits,” they said in a joint statement, calling on people to wear
black.“We call on the working class and friends of labourers to stand up for
our brothers in Soma.”
Anger at the disaster has
swept across Turkey, where mining accidents are a frequent occurrence.
On Wednesday, thousands of
protestors clashed with police in Ankara and Istanbul, accusing the government
and mining industry of negligence.The prosecutor’s office in Soma has launched
an investigation into the cause of the disaster, which has added to the
pressure on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.The premier has rejected claims
of government culpability, saying that “such accidents happen”. In an apparent
attempt to downplay the disaster, he compared it disaster to other mining
disasters elsewhere, saying that “204 people died in the UK in 1862 and 361
people in 1864″.
It is unclear how many workers
are still trapped underground following the huge explosion at the mine on
Tuesday, which was believed to have been set off by an electrical fault.Mining
operators put the figure at 90, but reports from rescue workers on the scene
suggest the figure could be far higher. Most of the victims died of carbon
monoxide poisoning.Erdogan was forced to take refuge in a shop after a furious
reaction from relatives of the victims and the missing, some of whom began
kicking his vehicle.An adviser of Erdogan was photographed kicking a protester
in Soma, sparking outrage on social media.Public anger also spilled onto the
streets, where police used tear gas and water canon to disperse between 3,000
and 4,000 protesters in Ankara’s downtown Kizilay Square, as well as thousands
of demonstrators in Istanbul.The disaster has added to the political pressure
on Erdogan, who faced mass protests last summer and a huge corruption scandal
involving his family and key allies in recent months.
“If the claims of negligence
at the mine prove true, it will have a political price. Such a development
would render corruption allegations targeting Erdogan’s government more
convincing,” Professor Ilter Turan of Istanbul’s Bilgi University told here.Messages
of condolence poured in from celebrities including superstar Rihanna,
actress Eva Longoria and supermodel Adriana Lima.
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said early on Thursday that the provisional toll had risen to 282 after more bodies were pulled out of the pit. No one has come out alive in the past 12 hours, he said.Another 27 workers are being treated in hospital, and families of the miners who died in the disaster have begun to retrieve their bodies from a makeshift morgue a few kilometers from Soma.Alahattin Mengucek, who came from Izmir to retrieve his son’s body, said: “I’m waiting for my son. I’ve lost him in the mine, he just became a father eight months ago.”“What happened is just bad luck. The government is doing whatever it can to help us, but what can we do against fire and gas?” he added.
Raging fires have hampered
rescue efforts, and emergency workers have still not been able to reach two
underground shafts.“We will try to save those who are still stuck one by one,
but you know very well that there is no more hope. It’s finished for them,”
said Murat Kurkoglu, a miner who joined the rescue effort.
Early reports said 787
workers were underground when the blast occurred. By late Wednesday, “close to
450″
workers had been rescued, according to the mine operator, Soma Komur Inc.
But accounts from rescue workers cast doubt over these numbers.Erdem Bakin, a doctor with the Search and Rescue organisation, said only around 70-80 people who were between the mine entrance and the transformer that exploded had survived.“Those who were beyond were taken by the fire and they are all dead,” he said.Explosions and cave-ins are common in Turkey, particularly in private mines, where safety regulations are often flouted.Turkey’s previous worst mining accident happened in 1992 when 263 workers were killed in a gas explosion in a mine in Zonguldak.A lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) said it asked parliament last month to investigate work-related accidents at coal mines in Soma, but the government turned down the request.“We receive tip-offs every day that workers’ lives are under threat,” local lawmaker Ozgur Ozel told Turkish media.
“We lawmakers from Manisa are
tired of going to miner funerals.”Turkey’s ministry of labour and social
security said the mine had been inspected eight times in the last four years,
most recently on March 17, and was found to comply with safety regulations.Mining company Soma Komur
said it had taken maximum measures to ensure safety.Soma is a key centre for
lignite coal mining and is located around 480 kilometres southwest of Istanbul.President arrives at
mine collapse site
Turkish President Abdullah
Gul arrived Thursday at the site of the mining accident.Gul travelled to the site in
the Soma district together with the parliamentary speaker Cemil Cicek after
visiting the hospital where wounded miners are being treated.Meanwhile,
Turkish media reported that police fired tear gas and water cannon at
thousands of protesters on Thursday, as a 24-hour strike got underway over a
deadly mine explosion.Police intervened twice when
around 20,000 protesters took to the streets in the western city of Izmir to
protest the death of 282 miners in the country’s worst ever industrial
accident.
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