A Turkish miner has been killed and twenty-one more were rescued after a fire broke out at a coal mine at Derkale in Manisa Province in western Turkey, early in the morning of Sunday 20 October 2013. It is understood that the fire was started by an electrical fault, and led to a partial collapse at the site. The surviving miners have been taken to local hospitals for treatment for smoke inhalation.
The interior of the Derkale Mine following the 20 OCtober 2013 fire. TRT English.
Turkey has a large and profitable mining sector, producing a variety of metals and minerals, but a somewhat checkered record on health and safety. Within six months in 2009-2010 fifty Turkish miners died in three separate fire-related incidents, leading Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan to comment that the people of the region were used to such incidents, and accepted them as fate, going on to describe protests by mining unions calling for better safety conditions as a provocation.
The approximate location of the Derkale Mine. Google Maps.
See also Landslide at limestone quarry kills six in Omdurman, Sudan, Three workers killed by gas at German potash mine, Twenty seven killed in Afghan mine collapse, Swedish miners rescued from underground fire and At least seven people dead following spoil heap collapse at coal mine in Sundargarh, Odisha State, India.
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