The toll from Turkey’s deadly coal mine accident is set to rise as hopes fade of recovering approximately 120 miners trapped hundreds of metres underground.
Soma, a mining town of 100,000 inhabitants in western Turkey, is now the scene of one of country’s worst industrial disasters. More than 270 have died following the explosion at the mine’s power unit on Tuesday afternoon.
Protests erupted in the Turkish cities of Istanbul and Ankara last night as word spread of the worsening death toll.
In Istanbul, protesters, calling for the government’s resignation, were met by riot police using tear gas and water cannon. Similar scenes were reported in Turkey’s capital, Ankara.
Boos and whistles
On his visit to Soma prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was greeted with boos and whistles.
“We as a nation of 77 million are experiencing a very great pain,” said Mr Erdogan, who will be contesting the country’s presidential election in August.
The mining disaster will not be without political ramifications.
Two weeks ago, Turkey’s opposition People’s Republican Party (CHP) saw its Bill to investigate accidents at Soma’s mines turned down in a parliament dominated by Mr Erdogan’s AK Party.
On his visit to Soma yesterday CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu called for calm. “We have to investigate the incident with restraint.”
Hussein Can, a 19-year-old from the area, said he felt lucky: five of his friends were injured but recovering in hospital. Mehmet Colban (22), standing at the barrier nearest the mine entrance, his eyes wet, felt less so.
“My uncle is trapped down there, we’ve no idea if he can be saved,” he said haltingly, adding that his government had provided little in the way of support. His uncle had worked the mine for nine years, he said.
Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News reported that more than 3,000 people have died in mining accidents over the past 70 years.
“Considering the labourers who have lost their lives in heavy and unregulated working conditions, the loss of life cannot be seen as either ‘neglect’ nor ‘accident’,” said Ahmet Farouk Unsal of Mazlumder, a Turkish human rights organisation.
Rescue effort
There were between 500 and 600 rescue workers at the site yesterday, some of whom were soldiers who had come from Ankara to help with the relief effort.
As the body of a dead miner was recovered there was a flurry of activity while they readied ambulances and cleared the entrance of cars, breaking the heavy sombre mood.