At least nine people are trapped in a gold mine in Turkey’s northwest Erzincan province after a mound of earth that may be contaminated with cyanide slid, authorities said Tuesday. Turkish.
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“There is no news of nine minors. A rescue operation is underway with a team of 400 people,” Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on public channel TRT Haber.
“This is the sliding of a mound formed by a pile of earth removed from the mine,” said the minister.
The earth that collapsed could contain cyanide used to extract gold, a miners’ union warned.
“Rescuing the miners could take a long time because of the soil containing cyanide,” said Basaran Aksu of the Bagimsiz Maden Is union.
“There is no question of a leak at the moment in the Euphrates”, the river which crosses the province of Erzincan, said Governor Hamza Aydogdu.
The Ministry of the Environment, for its part, announced that measures had been taken to “prevent materials from flowing into the Euphrates”.
Collapse in seconds
According to the first images broadcast by Turkish media, a mound of earth collapsed in a few seconds and descended like a lava flow into a valley, covering a large area.
The slide concerns “a land mass of 8 to 10 decares” which subsequently spread over “100 decares,” said Mr. Yerlikaya.
“We have arranged for night lighting. We only have one wish: to be able to give good news to their families, our prayers are in this direction,” he added.
The landslide occurred around 2 p.m. local time (11 a.m. GMT) in Iliç, Erzincan province, and rescue teams from neighboring towns were deployed, state disaster management agency Afad announced.
The Ministers of the Interior and Energy are expected there, according to the private Turkish channel NTV.
“We will mobilize all our resources to shed light on the reasons for this incident,” said the company in charge of the gold mine, Anagold.
Employing 667 miners, this same mine had already made headlines in 2022 after a cyanide leak, prompting authorities to briefly suspend its operations.
However, it reopened after paying a fine, provoking an outcry from the Turkish opposition.
“Despite the cyanide leak, the mine’s permit was not withdrawn and its capacity was increased. The company benefited from legal protection (…). All this has paved the way for disaster,” responded the Turkish Medical Association.
Landslides or mine collapses are relatively common in certain regions of Turkey.
Forty-two miners were killed in a 2022 explosion in Amasra, in the north of the country.