14 February 2024 , 10:11
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A huge rescue operation has been launched to save nine workers trapped in a goldmine after a massive landslide feared to contain traces of cyanide.
Tragedy befell the Copler mine operated by Anagold Mining in the town of Ilic in Turkey's Erzincan province on Tuesday when a large mass of soil rushed down a gully. Around 800 people in the search and rescue teams have been deployed to the mountainous area to save their colleagues and friends. Family members are being kept away from the site as the rescue attempt unfolds at an area close to the disaster area.
A statement by the company said: “[The] most important priority in this difficult process - is the health and safety of our employees and contractors. This is a painful situation. Immediately after the incident, we immediately contacted our employees in the region, put our emergency plan into action and informed the relevant public institutions and organisations.”
Geologist Suleyman Pampal warned of a threat to the environment as a result of substances such as cyanide, caused after the soil had been processed for gold. He added: “Mixing with the Euphrates means the end of all life. It must be prevented urgently from reaching the Euphrates.”
Former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim making a statement at the scene (dia images via Getty Images)The mine was shut in 2020 following a cyanide leak into the nearby river, which stretches from Turkey and into Syria and Iraq. It reopened in 2022 after a massive clean up operation was completed. Anagold Mining has operated the Copler mine since 2009. Some 667 people are employed at the site.
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Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said an investigation into the disaster had been launched, adding: “I wish our citizens from Erzincan recover soon and hope our miner brothers who are trapped under the rubble will be rescued safely.”
Hundreds of people are helping in the rescue effort (Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock)Turkey’s mine safety record is poor. In 2022, an explosion at the Amasra coal mine on the Black Sea coast killed 41 workers. Before that, in 2014 at a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, 301 people were killed.
Last year a fire in a gold mine in southern Peru killed at least 27 workers. Government officials said the cause of the incident was under investigation with early reports saying preliminary investigations indicated an explosion might have been set off by a short circuit in a part of the mine about 100 metres below the surface. Relatives of the victims were brought by buses to the mine in Yanaquihua where some sat at the entrance to the mine to wait for the bodies of their loved ones.