10 miners trapped 4 days after Turkish mine collapse

SIIRT, Turkey

Ten miners remain trapped underground, four days after a mine collapse in southeast Turkey.

Rescuers are working to find the workers at the Madenkoy copper mine in Sirvan, Siirt province. Heavy rainfall is believed to have triggered a landslide that caused the collapse late Thursday.

Around 90 members of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, National Medical Rescue Organization, Red Crescent and gendarmerie are involved in the rescue attempt. They are using 12 excavators, two bulldozers, a loader and 25 trucks to help.

Six bodies have been recovered so far. Relatives of the trapped workers are waiting at the mine.

The mine’s operating manager was remanded in custody Saturday accused of negligence relating to safety regulations.

The mine is run by Park Elektrik, a member of the Ciner Group that has operated the mine since 2006.

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. In October, 18 died in a flood at a coal mine in Ermenek, central Turkey.

*Reporting by Selman Tur; Writing by Tutku Senen