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14 June, 2006
On 1 June, 17 coal miners died after a methane gas explosion caused a collapse of shafts at a mine owned by the privately-held Sentas Madencilik mining company in Dursunbey, Turkey. Nine other miners were seriously injured at the unorganised mine in Belıkesir province.
The tragedy, just one in a series of underground mining accidents occurring across the world on almost a daily basis, deserves attention due to the response from business interests inside Turkey, as well as from the minister of Energy and Natural Resources. That response was to explain away the Dursunbey deaths as “such things happen in the mining industry.”
But in Turkey, as in many other countries, the expansion of coal and minerals mining into remote areas by more and more operators brings with it higher safety risks, particularly when those mines are operated without the monitoring and compliance that trade unions offer.
Following the Dursunbey tragedy and the cold-hearted remarks by both the government’s minister and an employers’ organisation, ICEM affiliate Maden-Īş Sendikasi said that although mine safety legislation is in place in Turkey, weak enforcement is to blame for many mine disasters. “If there were unions at this workplace, safety regulations would be followed,” said the union.
“Where there are unions” in mines, “the number of accidents declines noticeably,” added a Maden-Īş spokesperson. The ICEM addressed the 1 June Turkish mining catastrophe in a letter to the union by issuing unequivocal support for Maden-Īş’s health and safety efforts across the mining industry in Turkey.