Turkey coal mine explosion: Death toll hits 274, making Soma disaster the worst of its kind...

[JackRiddler]

Source: The Independent

Turkey coal mine explosion: Death toll hits 274, making Soma disaster the worst of its kind in country's history

A stream of ambulances continued to bring the dead from the Turkey’s Soma mine today. The bodies are carried 2km from inside the mine by a stream of volunteers — many of who are miners themselves.

As many as 787 miners were in the mine at the time of Tuesday afternoon’s explosion, which is thought to have been caused by faulty electrical transformers. While the official death toll rose 274, families and rescuers at the mouth of the mine are now expecting only more bodies to be recovered as the country started on three days of mourning.

Even as the bodies were still being recovered, violent protests erupted in Soma, where rocks were thrown at police. At the local state hospital officers guarded wards were injured miners were being treated. Meanwhile, in Istanbul, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Soma Holding, the company that owns the mine. In Ankara, the capital, police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse a crowd who had gathered to march to the energy ministry, throwing fire bombs at the gathered police.

(...)

Mr Erdogan visited the site at around 1pm today. In a style that has become well-expected from the Turkish leader, he has brushed aside any accusations of wrongdoing and has pointed to similar disasters in countries including the UK as an example that accidents happen. During a press conference he cited 19th-century Britain — “I went back in British history. Some 204 people died there after a mine collapsed in 1838. In 1866, 369 miners died in Britain. In an explosion in 1984, 290 people died there.”



Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/turkey-coal-mine-explosion-protests-erupt-in-soma-after-pm-claims-explosions-like-these-happen-all-the-time-9371384.html

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Erdogan says it's okay, because 204 people died in a mine collapse in BRITAIN IN 1838 -- at the dawn of the working class movement against capitalism in its most infamously inhumane form.

If you're in New York City, solidarity protest tomorrow by Gezi Platform NYC at Union Square, 7 pm.

See https://www.facebook.com/events/246385425565488/

We are gathering to demand justice and say “Not fate, nor accident. This is systemic murder.”

More than 700 mine workers were trapped in the Soma coal-mine yesterday, 274 workers were reached dead so far, including a 15-year-old child worker. They join the 270 people who died in work-related accidents in the first three months of 2014. Hundreds are still unaccounted for.

A parliamentary proposal of investigation about the working conditions in the Soma coal-mine proposed by the opposition parties was refused just two weeks ago, on April 29, by the majority votes of AKP deputies.

According to International Labor Organization (ILO) figures, Turkey ranks first in Europe and third in the world for fatal work accidents. The ILO says 18 out of 100,000 insured laborers die every year in work accidents, seven times greater than the EU average of 2.5. ...

[LeftishBrit]

1. Truly horrible.

[WinkyDink]

2. I think the sentence "I went back in British history" ought to have said something to him.

[JackRiddler]

5. Not every tyrant and oligarch

has quite the same propensity for self-exposure.

For all the fat good it may or may not do.

[Marthe48]

3. Thank you for the information

We live in SE Ohio, right next door to WV. There were 2 miners killed at a Patriot mine in Boone County on May 13, 2014. We heard that news just before we heard about the Turkish mining disaster.

Patriot had over 500 safety violations noted last August (2013)and the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration issued a 'Pattern of Violations" in October 2013.

It seems to me that concern for worker safety has to come from the top down, not the bottom up. Until CEO's and MBA's and so on are capable of seeing their employees as humans, with rights equal to the CEO's, we're going to see these headlines again and again. Here is a link to WV mining deaths since 1884;
http://www.wvminesafety.org/disaster.htm


The families are in my prayers.

[Tribalceltic]

4. I remember the coal mine wars in the 70s

My mother was from Scranton PA. We watched the news on it every night. Yes we have the internet now, but little else has changed.

For the Mine workers of the world

[BootinUp]

6. I hope they can rest in peace. nt

[happyslug]

7. This may beat out the worse US mine Accident in 1907 362 + miners were killed in Monongah, WV:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monongah_Mining_disaster

Now the 362 was an estimate made at the time of the disaster, but subsequent research indicates that as many as 500 men and children died in the disaster (Children were employed to keep the air shafts open, children are smaller then men and thus easier for them to keep the air shafts open, women were sometimes employed with the children in that roll, through no women were admitted to have been killed in the disaster).


List of all mine disasters in the US:

http://www.msha.gov/MSHAINFO/FactSheets/MSHAFCT8.HTM#.U3RN6oFdXng

Coal Mining is dangerous.

[Bosonic]

8. Fury as Turkish PM's Aide Kicks Soma Mine Protester

Fury as Turkish PM's Aide Kicks Soma Mine Protester

New pictures emerged Thursday of a senior Turkish government aide apparently kicking a grieving protester, adding to anger at prime minister Tayyip Erdogan’s handling of the Soma coal mine disaster.

Erdogan’s adviser, Yusuf Yerkel, clashed with the unidentified man during protests when the leader visited the tragedy-stricken town on Wednesday.

A picture of the incident was circulated on social media, stoking anger at the government’s response.

Yerkel told Turkish news site Hurriyet that he would make a statement about the clash Thursday, but two more pictures emerged that appear to confirm the adviser kicked out.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/turkey-mine-collapse/fury-turkish-pms-aide-kicks-soma-mine-protester-n106006

[JackRiddler]

9. IF YOU ARE IN NEW YORK...

See above for info on today's rally in Union Square.