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Death Toll in Turkish Mine Disaster Hits 299 as New Fire Breaks Out As Mine Yields Last Body, Recriminations Remain
(about 3 hours later)
SOMA, Turkey — The death toll in the Turkish mine explosion rose to 299, with three more workers still believed trapped in the depths of the Soma mine, Turkey’s energy minister said Saturday in a televised statement. SOMA, Turkey — Rescue workers removed the last remaining bodies from a stricken mine here on Saturday afternoon as the death toll in Turkey’s worst mining accident rose to 301 people, according to the prime minister’s office.
Further complicating the efforts to find the workers, a new fire broke out in a separate part of the mine Saturday when firefighters and rescue teams tried to put out the initial fire that caused most of the deaths, officials said. The final recovery efforts were hampered by a fire that broke out underground Saturday morning, as well as the leakage of methane gas, according to the energy minister, Taner Yildiz. Some of the 17 bodies removed overnight were so badly burned that DNA testing will be required to identify them, he said.
The new blaze along with methane gas leaks in several sections of the coal mine posed additional challenges to the rescue operation, Taner Yildiz, Turkey’s energy minister, said Saturday. Smoke could be seen rising near an entrance to the mine on Saturday. For the first time since the accident four days ago, there were no relatives of victims seen waiting. Some of the families moved to a nearby state hospital, to await the results of the DNA tests.
“It is a localized fire, but it is important and we have to take note of it,” Mr. Yildiz said. “Naturally until it is brought under control we can’t do anything” to retrieve the three workers. With so many dead, the tragedy rippled for miles around the coal mine, affecting towns and tiny villages in a region where thousands of men work in the industry. Public anger was focused on the facility’s owners, who were accused of shirking safety measures to make the mine more profitable, and on Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose abrasive response to the accident during a visit here last week infuriated a region in mourning.
Fifteen bodies were removed from the mine late Friday night. But the authorities were unable to identify the deceased miners because they were so badly burned, and their remains were handed over to DNA experts to determine their identity. During protests against Mr., Erdogan’s visit, an aide to Mr. Erdogan was photographed kicking a demonstrator who was being held on the ground by military police officers. Mr. Erdogan himself responded to the heckling by defiantly taunting protesters.
“There are ones that required DNA tests,” Mr. Yildiz said. Prosecutors are investigating the accident, which occurred when a fire tore through the mine.
The disaster posed a new challenge to the government of the Islamist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Mr. Erdogan has recently stumbled from one political crisis to the next, often deepening public outrage with highhanded remarks and an authoritarian determination. That was the case again in Soma, even while the dead were being buried and bodies were still being recovered. The mine owners, who have denied any negligence, have speculated that unexplained “warming” in the mine sparked the fire, without providing further details. They conceded that there were no safe rooms in the mine where workers could take shelter, but asserted that they were not required by Turkish law.
Mourners wanted answers when the prime minister visited. Instead, some said, they got defiance. Engineers who worked in the mine, however have faulted the management of the facility, saying that poorly insulated cables there may have caught fire, sparking a larger conflagration in power distribution units.
Mr. Erdogan traveled to Soma on Wednesday and appeared defensive from the start. He suggested that mining disasters were commonplace, even in developed countries, and recited a list of accidents that occurred in Britain in the 1800s — an awkward comparison for a leader who has projected an image of Turkey as a modern democracy. Speaking on Saturday afternoon, Mr. Yildiz, the energy minister, said that the investigation into the cause was continuing and that “primary inspections were done, as inspectors went as far as they could.” He said labor inspectors would “gradually reach” deeper sections of the mine.
“He inflamed the crowd,” said Ozcan, a hotel worker who gave only his first name. When Mr. Erdogan’s entourage faced angry hecklers in the town center, one of his aides was photographed kicking a protester who was on the ground. Seeking refuge from the crowds, the prime minister was hustled by his security team into a supermarket, where a video camera appeared to show him threatening an angry resident. “Our mining world has many, many lessons to learn,” he said. “This has been a highly painful experience for us.”
On Saturday, Turkey’s labor ministry announced benefits for injured miners and the families of those who died. Injured miners will be paid the equivalent of roughly $1,200 a month for at least three months — almost double what many miners were paid monthly. The initial death benefits announced ranged from about $500 a month to about $1,000 a month, and will be permanent, officials said.
On Saturday, volunteers flocked to a village especially hard hit by the accident. At least 11 men from Elmadere, a town of about 250 people, were killed in the accident.
As the volunteers — who came in buses from Istanbul and other towns — passed out toys and candy to the village’s children, residents fretted about a future without their miners.
“We’ve tried cattle breeding, it failed. We tried tobacco, it failed,” said Ali Suay, 57, whose 34-year-old son died in the mine. “Nothing provided us enough income.”
At the entrance to the mine, Cevat Altuntas, who had worked as a miner for 30 years, said the authorities focused on safety only after accidents.
“This is how mining goes in Turkey,” he said. “Unless our fingers are bleeding, we don’t take precautions.”