Unlicenced Coal Mine Collapses in Şırnak Killing 6 Workers

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Six workers have lost their lives due to the collapse of an unlicenced coal mine in Turkey's southeastern province of Şirnak. One worker has been brought to hospital with severe injuries and rescue units continue to search for a worker trapped in the collapsed site.

According to the report by Sekvan Küden from Doğan News Agency, a part of the Şırnak Coal Mines, the coal mine number three located at the foothills of the Cudi mountain between Şırnak town center and Cizre district, collapsed at 3 p.m.

Six of the seven workers who were rescued from the collapse and were brought to hospital could not be rescued despite all efforts.
Rescue units of National Medical Rescue Teams (UMKE) and Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) have been sent to the site.

Bakanlık: Coal Mine has no licence to operate

The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, making a statement on the incident, said:

"The mine site where this accident has occurred is a site whose operation had been stopped by the MİGEM (General Directorate of Mining Affairs) in 2013 as it constituted an occupational safety risk. No operation licence was issued by MİGEM for the site where the accident occurred".

1,485 workers killed in 2017

According to the report of Occupational Health and Safety Council, at least 147 workers lost their lives in September 2017, and 1,485 workers have lost their lives in the first nine months of 2017 in occupational homicides.

Four workers had lost their lives and two others had been injured in an explosion in Türpraş Refinery in Turkey's western province of İzmir on October 11. (ÇT/DG)