Turkey mine victims buried as toll climbs

Rescue workers and medics wait outside the coal mine in Soma, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at a coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul, killed hundreds of workers, authorities said, in one of the worst mining disasters in Turkish history.(AP Photo/Berza Simsek)

Rescue workers and medics wait outside the coal mine in Soma, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at a coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul, killed hundreds of workers, authorities said, in one of the worst mining disasters in Turkish history.(AP Photo/Berza Simsek)

Friday, May 16, 2014

SOMA, Turkey — Turkish women sang improvised laments about the dead over freshly dug graves Thursday, even as backhoes carved row upon row of graves into the dirt and hearses lined up outside the cemetery with more victims of Turkey’s worst mining disaster.

Rescue teams recovered another nine victims, raising the death toll to 283, with scores of people still unaccounted for, according to government figures. The disaster Tuesday has set off protests around Turkey and thrown Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s presidential ambitions off stride. Blackening his reputation further, one of Erdogan’s aides was seen kicking a protester held on the ground by armed police. At a graveyard in the western town of Soma, where coal mining has been the main industry for decades, women wailed loudly. They swayed and sang songs about their relatives as bodies were lowered into their graves.

“The love of my life is gone,” some sang, chanting the names of dead miners.

No miner has been pulled out alive since dawn Wednesday from the Soma coal mine where the explosion and fire took place. Mourners said they spent their whole lives fearing something like this.

“The wives of the miners kiss their husbands in the morning. When they come back, even if they are five minutes late, everyone starts calling. You never know what is going to happen,” said Gulizar Donmez, 45, the daughter and wife of a miner and neighbor of one of the victims.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said the search for survivors has been hampered by a mine fire that had spread to a conveyor system — engulfing a 650-foot stretch — but progress was made Thursday on extinguishing it. Rescue operations have been suspended several times as burning coal inside created toxic fumes and conditions too dangerous for the rescue teams.

Emergency crews detected a drop in carbon-monoxide levels, “which means that the fire has gotten smaller,” he said. Erdogan, who is expected to soon announce his candidacy for Turkey’s presidential election in August, was not welcome during his visit Wednesday. He was forced to take refuge at a supermarket after angry crowds clashed with police and called him a murderer and a thief, in a reference to alleged corruption. Turkish newspapers printed photographs Thursday of an Erdogan aide kicking a protester who was being held on the ground by special-forces police.

The aide, Yusuf Yerkel, issued a statement Thursday that expressed regret but also claimed he was provoked.

“I am sorry that I was not able to keep calm despite all the provocations, insults and attacks that I was subjected to,” he said.

Erdogan on Wednesday called mining accidents “ordinary things” that occur in many other countries. In contrast, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, visiting Soma on Thursday, described the coal mine explosion as “a huge disaster.”

“The pain is felt by us all,” he said.

The mood was more restrained than during Erdogan’s visit, though local residents angry at what they saw as the slow rescue operation shouted at him, demanding that more should be done to reach possible survivors.

Protests broke out in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities Wednesday over the deaths and poor safety conditions at mines around the country. In Istanbul and Izmir, authorities used water cannons and tear gas to break up the protests.

Turkey’s largest trade union confederation, representing some 800,000 workers, joined a one-day strike Thursday by other unions to demand better conditions for workers. Miners in Zonguldak gathered in front of a pit Thursday but did not enter it. In Istanbul, a group chanted anti-government slogans and carried a large banner that read: “It’s not an accident, it’s murder.”

Authorities said the disaster followed an explosion and a fire at a power-distribution unit, and most deaths were caused by carbon-monoxide poisoning. The government has said 787 people were inside the coal mine at the time of Tuesday’s explosion, and that 383 were rescued, many with injuries. Tuesday’s explosion tore through the mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, which likely raised the casualty toll.

The death toll made it Turkey’s worst mining accident, topping a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.