Turkey recovers remaining miners' bodies

The bodies of the last five of the 18 miners trapped during flooding in a Turkish mine in October have now been recovered.

Turkish rescue workers have recovered the remaining bodies of 18 miners who were trapped by a flooding accident in a pit in late October.

The miners died in a disaster in the Ermenek coal mine in the Karaman region of southern Turkey that highlighted the country's already dire mine safety record.

None of the trapped men were rescued alive.

Rescuers found the first two bodies on November 6 and the rest have been pulled up periodically since, with the last five brought to the surface on Wednesday, the official Anatolia news agency reported.

The authorities have already arrested eight people in connection with the disaster which is believed to have been caused by water that had built up in a disused neighbouring mine.

The government has sought to show it is on top of the rescue operation following sharp criticism of its actions in the Soma disaster in May when 301 workers were killed in the country's worst mining accident.


Share

1 min read

Published

Updated



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world