“Race against time” to rescue labourers from mine in Turkey

Many rescuers are still looking for nine gold miners who disappeared after a landslide in eastern Turkey.

About 10 million cubic meters of dirt fell from a gulley onto the Copler mine site on Tuesday.

Four people, including the manager of the pit, have been taken into custody for investigation.

There is also worry that harmful chemicals could escape from the area and cause a bigger environmental problem.

Former Turkish leader Binali Yildirim went to the mine and said that some workers got away when the ground fell, but they can’t find nine workers.

“Mr Yildirim said that despite a big effort to act quickly, the conditions are not good for us to help because the incident is very serious. ”

Five workers are trapped in a container, three in a vehicle, and one in his truck at a different part of the site.

The Copler mine is one of Turkey’s biggest and is in Erzincan province, about 90km from the provincial capital Erzincan and over 600km east of Ankara.

While trying to rescue people, officials are also working to calm fears that cyanide and many other chemicals used in gold mining could move from the site into the nearby Euphrates River. This river goes into Syria and Iraq before flowing into the Persian Gulf.

Turkey’s environmental ministry is checking the Euphrates River for chemicals. They have not found any pollution yet.

The pipes that carry water from the stream to the river have been closed for safety.

Mehmet Torun, who used to be the president of the Chamber of Mining Engineers, told the BBC in Turkey that they warned about the gold mine many times.

Mr Torun said that a gold mine in Erzincan is very dangerous because it is close to an active fault line and only 300m away from the Euphrates River.

He said it was a really bad thing for the environment.

We are actually putting harmful substances into the river that has been supplying water to Mesopotamia for many centuries.

I want to think there is no leakage, but I’m not sure how sure we can be.

Binali Yildirim said the chemicals were kept in a different place from where the landslide occurred.

The group of Turkish engineers and architects, including the Chamber of Mining Engineers, want the Copler mine to be closed forever.

Attempts were made in 2022 to close it down after a poison gas leaked.

Anagold Mining company got a big fine of 16. 5 million Turkish lira (£428,000; $536,000) for breaking rules. But they can still keep the mine open.

SSR Mining, which partly owns Anagold, stopped making gold at the site after a landslide on Tuesday.

SSR’s shares, which are bought and sold on the New York and Toronto Stock Exchanges, went down by more than half in value on Tuesday.

In the past few years, there have been many accidents in Turkish mines. In 2022, 42 people died in a coal mine explosion.