Another body recovered from collapsed Turkish mine

By Ozgur Ayaydin, Hasan Namli and Aziz Aslan

SIIRT, Turkey (AA) – Another body of a miner was recovered Sunday, 10 days after a mine collapse in Turkey’s southeastern Siirt province.

So far, 11 bodies have been found at the Madenkoy copper mine in Sirvan district.

Five other miners remain trapped underground and search-and-rescue teams are working to locate the missing men.

Heavy rainfall is believed to have triggered a landslide that caused the mine collapse on Nov. 17.

The mine’s operating manager was remanded in custody two days later. He was accused of negligence related to safety regulations.

Madenkoy mine is run by Park Elektrik, a member of the Ciner Group which has operated the facility since 2006.

Earlier this week, an incident took place at a privately-owned mine in the Kilimli district of Zonguldak province, a region on Turkey’s Black Sea coast.

The body of a 34-year-old mine worker was recovered Tuesday, 10 hours after the mine collapsed in northern Turkey.

Other serious accidents have beset Turkey’s mining industry in the past.

In May 2014, 301 coal miners were killed in the Soma mine in western Turkey -- the country’s worst mining disaster.

This October, 18 miners died in a flood at a coal mine in Ermenek in central Turkey.