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Soma mine disaster
On 13 May 2014, blasting at Eynez coal mine in Soma, Manisa, Turkey, caused an underground mine fire, which burned until 15 May. In total, 301 people were killed, making it the worst mine disaster in Turkey's history. The mine, operated by coal producer Soma Kömür İşletmeleri A.Ş., suffered a fire, the causes of which were later found to be complex. The fire occurred at the mine's shift change, when 787 workers were underground. At the time, the disaster was thought to be mainly an explosion rather than fire. After the last bodies were pulled from the mine on 17 May 2014, four days after the fire, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yıldız confirmed the number of dead was 301. Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) announced the names of the 301 workers who died in the mine disaster and the 486 miners who survived.
Miners protested against dangerous mining conditions in late 2013 and the demand by the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party, to investigate the mine's safety was rejected in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey with votes from the ruling Justice and Development Party only weeks before the disaster.
An official expert report was published in 2016 which found several causes of the disaster, including inadequate official inspections.
Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which has poor mine-safety conditions. According to a report issued in 2010 by the Turkish Economy Policies Research Foundation (TEPAV), in 2008, deaths per 1 million tons of coal mined were 7.22 in Turkey (the highest figure in the world), five times the rate in China (1.27) and 361 times the rate in the US (0.02). Official statistics record that more than 3,000 coal miners died in mining accidents from 1941 to April 2014. Seventy-eight miners were killed in accidents in 2012, and 95 died in 2013. Prior to the Soma disaster, the deadliest incident in recent Turkish mining history was an explosion which killed 263 people in 1992.
The mine, formerly a state-owned company, had been privatized in 2005. In 2012 Alp Gürkan, CEO of Soma Holding, indicated that since privatization the cost of producing coal had decreased from about $140 to $24 per ton.
In November 2013 hundreds of coal miners protested against working conditions by barricading themselves in a mine in Zonguldak.
On 29 April 2014, the Republican People's Party's demand for a parliamentary investigation regarding the safety in Soma mines was rejected by the Grand National Assembly.
The fire killed 301 workers, mostly from carbon monoxide poisoning. Because the fire took place close to shift change, the exact number of employees underground at the time was initially uncertain.
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Soma mine disaster
On 13 May 2014, blasting at Eynez coal mine in Soma, Manisa, Turkey, caused an underground mine fire, which burned until 15 May. In total, 301 people were killed, making it the worst mine disaster in Turkey's history. The mine, operated by coal producer Soma Kömür İşletmeleri A.Ş., suffered a fire, the causes of which were later found to be complex. The fire occurred at the mine's shift change, when 787 workers were underground. At the time, the disaster was thought to be mainly an explosion rather than fire. After the last bodies were pulled from the mine on 17 May 2014, four days after the fire, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yıldız confirmed the number of dead was 301. Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) announced the names of the 301 workers who died in the mine disaster and the 486 miners who survived.
Miners protested against dangerous mining conditions in late 2013 and the demand by the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party, to investigate the mine's safety was rejected in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey with votes from the ruling Justice and Development Party only weeks before the disaster.
An official expert report was published in 2016 which found several causes of the disaster, including inadequate official inspections.
Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which has poor mine-safety conditions. According to a report issued in 2010 by the Turkish Economy Policies Research Foundation (TEPAV), in 2008, deaths per 1 million tons of coal mined were 7.22 in Turkey (the highest figure in the world), five times the rate in China (1.27) and 361 times the rate in the US (0.02). Official statistics record that more than 3,000 coal miners died in mining accidents from 1941 to April 2014. Seventy-eight miners were killed in accidents in 2012, and 95 died in 2013. Prior to the Soma disaster, the deadliest incident in recent Turkish mining history was an explosion which killed 263 people in 1992.
The mine, formerly a state-owned company, had been privatized in 2005. In 2012 Alp Gürkan, CEO of Soma Holding, indicated that since privatization the cost of producing coal had decreased from about $140 to $24 per ton.
In November 2013 hundreds of coal miners protested against working conditions by barricading themselves in a mine in Zonguldak.
On 29 April 2014, the Republican People's Party's demand for a parliamentary investigation regarding the safety in Soma mines was rejected by the Grand National Assembly.
The fire killed 301 workers, mostly from carbon monoxide poisoning. Because the fire took place close to shift change, the exact number of employees underground at the time was initially uncertain.