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Burials, Rage and Political Fallout in Turkey Mine Disaster Public Discontent Rises as Families Gather to Bury Victims of Turkish Mine Disaster
(about 7 hours later)
SOMA, Turkey — As the death toll from Turkey’s worst mining accident rose on Thursday, hundreds of mourners attended a mass burial for at least 30 miners in a cemetery here, as gravediggers toiled to make room for possibly hundreds more. SOMA, Turkey — With passport-size photographs of their loved ones fastened to their chests, family members of men killed in Turkey’s worst mining accident shuffled toward the cemetery on Thursday in a mourning ritual repeated for hours. At least 30 miners were buried as gravediggers toiled to make room for the bodies of many men still trapped underground.
With passport-sized pictures of victims fastened to their chests, families filed into the cemetery in groups. Prayers were read over the bodies and sobbing mothers laid their hands on fresh earth. More coffins arrived and more families, in a ritual that lasted for hours. Two days after a suspected explosion sparked a fire in the Soma coal mine, this town was racked with grief over the 284 deaths confirmed so far, with frustration at the slow pace of recovering bodies and with anger at government officials who seemed incapable of offering comfort or answers.
Eight bodies were recovered on Thursday, bringing the total to 282, Turkish officials said. At least 140 miners are believed to be still trapped in the Soma coal mine, where, officials say, an explosion on Tuesday may have started a deadly fire. Eight more bodies were retrieved Thursday, with at least 140 miners believed to be trapped still. Officials and mine workers said there was little chance that the remaining men, stuck in chambers deep underground, have survived.
On Thursday, five labor unions called for a one-day nationwide strike, demanding better health and safety standards for miners. They also said that mine inspectors should be drawn from labor unions and include independent experts not employed by the mining corporations. The mine at Soma was formerly state-run but was privatized almost a decade ago.
In this mining town about 75 miles northeast of the Aegean port city of Izmir, thousands of residents work in the region’s coal mines, magnifying the scale of the disaster. Public discontent has swelled as the victims’ families have demanded answers from the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Mr. Erdogan was forced to take refuge at a supermarket during his visit here on Wednesday after angry crowds scuffled with the police and called the prime minister a murderer and a thief. Turkish newspapers published a photograph on Thursday of one Mr. Erdogan’s aides kicking a protester who was being held on the ground by police special forces during the protests.
The aide, Yusuf Yerkel, later apologized for failing to “restrain myself despite all the provocations, insults and attacks I was subjected to,” according to the semiofficial Anadolu News Agency.
The privatization of mines had led to a sharp increase in accidents “because profit is always more valuable than miners’ lives in the private sector,” said Umar Karatepe, a spokesman for the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey. He said protests would continue until the energy minister, Taner Yildiz, resigned and the government attended to the miners’ immediate concerns.
Mine workers have harshly criticized the Soma mining company since the accident, accusing it of lax safety standards. In a statement on Thursday, the company said that it had been a model for worker safety, and that the mine had been inspected every six months. The last inspection was in March, the company said.
The death toll has now surpassed that of a mine accident on the Black Sea in 1992 that killed 263 workers.The death toll has now surpassed that of a mine accident on the Black Sea in 1992 that killed 263 workers.
Rescue attempts, hampered by smoke and gas, have been conducted in fits and starts. Officials and people who have worked in the mine for years say they fear there is little chance that the remaining men, trapped in chambers deep underground, survived. Late Thursday, a miner in Soma said that rescue workers had partly suppressed the fire that had been blocking access to several chambers in the mine, allowing for the removal of two bodies. It was unclear if they were added to the official death toll.
Public anger has deepened as victims’ families demand answers about what happened at the coal mine near this town, 75 miles northeast of the Aegean port of Izmir. The disaster has fomented new hostility toward the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was forced to take refuge at a supermarket during his visit to this town on Wednesday when angry crowds scuffled with the police and called Mr. Erdogan a murderer and a thief Outside, one family waited anxiously for any news about Mustafa Korkmaz, a 31-year old miner who was still missing. His brother, Fatih Korkmaz, described a harrowing ordeal as they simply tried to confirm that Mr. Korkmaz had been working during the accident — a common complaint among the victims’ families.
Making matters worse for Mr. Erdogan, Turkish newspapers published a photograph on Thursday of one his aides kicking a protester who was being held on the ground by police special forces during the scuffles in Soma. The aide, Yusuf Yerkel, apologized on Thursday for failing to “restrain myself despite all the provocations, insults and attacks I was subjected to,” according to the semi-official Anadolu News Agency. The family members had received no help from officials, they said, so they searched the administrative offices of the mine, looking for a registration card that Mr. Korkmaz would have had to surrender to receive a headlamp for his shift.
On Thursday, five labor unions called for a one-day nationwide strike, demanding better health and safety standards for miners. They also said that mine inspectors should be drawn from labor unions and that they should include independent experts not employed by the mining corporations. The mine at Soma was formerly state-owned but had been leased to a private company, news reports said. “We were devastated to see that his card was still there, which meant he was inside,” his brother said.
“Miners suffer long working hours, have no occupational safety or social security, and when most of them are unregistered, they are part of an unregistered economy,” said Umar Karatepe, a spokesman for the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey. At the entrance to the municipal cemetery in Soma on Thursday, with the smell of dead bodies in the air, volunteers passed out Turkish delights and other refreshments, a customary duty to funeral guests.
Mr. Karatepe said the privatization of mines had led to a sharp increase in accidents “because profit is always more valuable than miners’ lives in the private sector.” He said protests would continue until the energy minister, Taner Yildiz, resigned and the government attended to the miners’ immediate concerns. A portion of the cemetery that had been overgrown was hastily prepared to receive the victims, with workers digging the graves in long, parallel lines.
At the municipal cemetery in Soma, the anger was quieted only momentarily by shock and grief. A portion of the cemetery that had been an overgrown lot until Wednesday was hastily prepared to receive the victims. Workers cut the tall grass and dug the graves in long, parallel lines. Many of the relatives, overwhelmed by grief and the crowds, could manage only the sparest details about the miners’ lives: One had just secured a loan and bought a house, and another was about to retire. The families spoke at greater length about the thankless work in the mine, the long hours, the risk and the low wages.
A family of three prayed over the fresh grave of a man named Muhammet Aslancan. A woman in overalls, one of dozens of volunteers distributing refreshments to the mourners, was herself overcome. She sat on a curb sobbing as three coffins arrived, before standing up again to pick up trash. A family of three prayed over the fresh grave of a man named Muhammet Aslancan. A woman in overalls, one of dozens of volunteers, was herself overcome. She sat on a curb sobbing as three coffins arrived, before standing up again to pick up trash.
The luckiest mourners knew only one of the victims. Many were like Ismail Atmaca, a 22-year-old miner, who said the dead included a friend who had been about to retire, and two distant relatives, including one with an 21-month-old child. Religious leaders shouted directions over loudspeakers. “Please do not block the road,” one said. “Many more bodies are on the way.”
“I have never seen such a thing,” said Mr. Atmaca, who had worked in the mine for four years. “I am considering quitting for good.” Many of the mourners were like Ismail Atmaca, a 22-year old miner, who said the dead included a friend and two distant relatives.
Sercan Kemer Kuran, 31, recovered the body of a childhood friend, Emin Kurt, from the mine on Wednesday. He seethed with anger at Mr. Erdogan, accusing him of abetting what he said was the mine’s negligent administration. “I have never seen such a thing,” said Mr. Atmaca, who has lived in Soma his whole life and has worked in the mine for four years. “I am considering quitting for good.”
Sercan Kemer Kuran, 31, said he had recovered the body of a childhood friend, Emin Kurt, from the mine on Wednesday. He seethed with anger at Mr. Erdogan, accusing him of abetting what he said was the mine’s negligent administration.
“We have the bodies of our friends, we have funerals,” he said. “We are worth absolutely nothing in the eyes of our government.”“We have the bodies of our friends, we have funerals,” he said. “We are worth absolutely nothing in the eyes of our government.”
For others in this mining town, where thousands of people work in the industry, the connections were too many to count. For others, the connections to the victims were too numerous to count.
“All of them are my brothers,” said Halit Yilmaz, 30, who stood near a roundabout near the entrance to the burial plot, so full of people it resembled a busy town square. “All of them are my brothers,” said Halit Yilmaz, 30, who stood near a roundabout near the entrance to the burial plot, so full of people that it resembled a busy town square.
“My family is a mining family, from my grandfather,” he said. “We are a mining community. At the moment, all I can think of is my friends trapped inside.”“My family is a mining family, from my grandfather,” he said. “We are a mining community. At the moment, all I can think of is my friends trapped inside.”
He did not have much hope. “The blast,” he said, “occurred in the heart of the mine.”