Rescuers find Turkish miner's body at accident site

By Selman Tur and Zekeriya Gunes

SIIRT, Turkey (AA) – Another body of a miner was discovered Thursday, seven days after a mine collapse in southeastern Turkey.

Search dogs attached to rescue units came across the remains of the missing mine worker while searching the area.

Teams are still working on recovering the body. Eight other mine workers remain trapped underground.

Eight bodies in total have been found at the Madenkoy copper mine in Sirvan, Siirt province so far.

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 on Saturday, accused of negligence relating 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 on Tuesday, 10 hours after the mine collapse 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, central Turkey.