At least 205 buddy died in a mining accident in Turkey Soma killed, hundreds are trapped, underground still raging fire. Rescue workers search for survivors, the opposition denounces the lack of safety precautions.

“Time is against us” – says the Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz after the serious accident in a mine in the western Turkish Soma. At least 201 buddy died when a substation exploded on Tuesday afternoon and caught fire. The fire continues to burn, the minister said. Hundreds of people are still trapped underground. Rescue workers continue to search for survivors.

Yildiz is rushed to the accident site in the province of Manisa. He said the rescue efforts had reached a “critical point” – with every minute that passes, the more likely that the trapped not survive.

80 miners were injured, four of them life-threatening. 360 workers could be brought to safety. Survivors were only sporadically brought over days, many of them had smoke inhalation and could barely breathe on Wednesday morning. Dozens of security forces were deployed in order to keep lanes for emergency vehicles.

At shift change on Tuesday afternoon estimated 780 men should have been in the pit, when some 400 meters underground, the explosion occurred. The power went out, the lifts and the air supply for the workers no longer worked.

At a depth of 2000 meters, hundreds were imprisoned – about four kilometers from the mine entrance. For the victims and the rescuers began the race against time, the many should lose that night.

The rescue team tried to breath to blow air into the shaft. For safety circuits on site was reported, two air bubbles, it would have formed. At the one hand, the recovery forces had access. In the other, the miners were but cut off from help.

Turkey Mine Disaster:Bang the end members on site

Before the entrance to the mine and before the district hospital of Soma , the relatives of the trapped people have gathered . They are trying desperately to get news about their fathers and sons. “Since the early afternoon, I now already waiting ,” says Sena Isbiler , the mother of a miner . ” So far I have not heard anything . ”

The authorities have four rescue teams sent into the pit , trying to put out the fire below ground and to supply the trapped miners with fresh air. The whole country rooting for and hoping for good news. On television, an expert on angry reactions of the audience makes when he describes the consequences of carbon monoxide poisoning underground as ” sweet death ” in which the person can feel no pain .

The people in town are shocked – some is already having anger at the authorities wide. The pit in Soma is one of the largest employers in the region in the province of Manisa . Around 6500 pal work here.

Turkey Mine Disaster:Tragic accident or massacre of greed?

Authorities and the Group Management speak of a tragic accident and emphasize the privately operated mine had been recently checked. The Turkish Ministry of Labour and Social Security said the pit had been investigated last March 17 for security problems and there had been no complaints.

However, given the frequent accidents in Turkish mines the doubts are great. “There is no security,” the workers Oktay Berrin says Soma. “The unions are just puppets, and the management thinks only about money.”

The opposition party CHP had failed in an attempt in Parliament from Ankara a few weeks ago to let investigate incidents in the pit of Soma: Erdogan’s ruling AKP party ironed the application. Critics accuse the government of having its compliance with safety precautions ignored in the privatization of many former state-owned mining companies in recent years.

For the left trade union confederation DISK misfortune of Soma is therefore a “massacre”, as the chairman Kani Beko says. In pits as in the Soma are all chains of subcontractors at work that would not be controlled properly. Safety would be ignored: “It’s all about winning.”

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan canceled a foreign trip and announced himself on the scene. Even opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu want to travel to Soma.

Mine accidents are not uncommon in Turkey. Inadequate safety measures and lack of controls in mining operations have contributed in recent years repeatedly to serious accidents. 1992 so far worst accident occurred in a mine in Zonguldak. Here, after a gas explosion 263 buddy had been killed.

[adrotate group=”14″]