Six miners were killed and another was wounded after part of a coal mine in Turkey's southeastern province of Şırnak collapsed on Tuesday. Rescuers were trying to reach one other mine worker who was still trapped inside.
The mine caved in trapping eight workers. Seven of them were rescued but six of them died while hospitalised.
The coal mine did not have a valid license to operate, the energy ministry said after several workers were killed when part of the mine collapsed.
"The activities of the mining field in Şırnak where the accident took place were stopped by the General Directorate of Mining Affairs in 2013 because it carried operational and security risks," the minister Berat Albayrak said. Albayrak, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's son-in-law avoids explaining why the ministry did not do necessary control.
Occupational murders are not unusual in Turkey. Its worst ever mining disaster took place in May 2014 in the western town of Soma, where 301 workers were killed. The occupational murder exposed poor safety standards and superficial government inspections in Turkey's mines.
Turkey has a well-above-average rate of fatalities in its mines with the vast majority of casualties coming in private mines.
