The bodies of two more miners were discovered on Monday in the Ermenek coal mine where flooding on Oct. 28 trapped a total of 18 workers. The Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) announced that search and rescue efforts are under way to recover the two bodies, which were located after weeks of searching.
The bodies of two others, Kerim Haznedar and İsa Gözbaşı were recovered by rescue teams on Nov. 6, causing hope to fade that the other 16 miners would be found alive. The AFAD teams are still working to locate and retrieve the 14 remaining bodies.
The Karaman mine accident left 18 people trapped underground on Oct. 28 after the mine was flooded with water that did not drain from one of the shafts in the mine.
Claims of negligence have characterized discussions of the accident, as some say water inside the mine was not drained in time, which caused the flooding. According to regulations, this water should have been drained every other week.
The company had not allowed workers to take their lunch outside the mine, which is a violation of the miners' right to a one-hour lunch break. The workers would have survived the disaster if they had been outside the mine at lunchtime.
The company owner, Uyar, had argued that not enforcing lunch break regulation is a countrywide practice at all mines and refused to take responsibility for the incident.
It has been revealed that the company was previously fined for failing a series of inspections. In addition, mining was stopped at the mine two weeks ago after flooding occurred due to a water leak. The leak was fixed, but water left in the mine's gallery was not removed.
Another issue that commentators believe indicates company negligence is its failure to heed the advice of a report by the Turkish Foundation for Reforestation, Protection of Natural Habitats and Combating Soil Erosion (TEMA), which said the region is not appropriate for mining and that continuing to mine at the site could eventually cause flooding and lead to possible deaths.
Monday 17 November 2014
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_two-more-bodies-found-21-days-after-ermenek-coal-mine-disaster_364578.html
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