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Rescuers are hunting desperately for scores of Turkish coal miners still missing after an explosion caused a pit to collapse, killing at least 238.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27406195

Unfortunatley this happened yesterday in our country. And there are news about the number of death will increase.

The death toll can climb to over 300, as many more are missing. The coal mining industry is one of the riskiest, despite the innovations in technology. But still, I was thinking that the Turkish mines were at least a little bit safer, compared to those in China, Russia and Ukraine. Seems like I was wrong. Feeling really sad. Incidents such as this one affects the poorest members of the society.

Main opposition party members wanted an investigation about this specific mine before this incident. But that is declined by the ruling party.

There is an increasing problem about worker safety in the Turkey at last years, even though we should expect the opposite with increasing technology. There are problems about controling companies and defending the basic worker rights.

Wow...that's a terrible accident and I hope those other people stuck in the mine can be rescued. Notice how in all these mining accidents...it's always some greedy company cutting corners and ignoring safety in the name of profits and the poor workers getting hurt or killed.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan only cares about money. He doesn't cares about the lives of poor coal miners, who account for a significant fraction of Turkey's GDP and exports. But none of the Western media outlets will criticize him, as he is an US-ally.

So long as production is for profit employers will look for ways to cut costs, and workers will pay the price.

Erdogan is a typical neo-liberal, with everything subordinated to profit.

A terrible disaster and my heart goes out to the families of those miners that have lost their lives. Brave men all.

The mine has been recently privatised. Anyone here know who owns it ?

It is owned by the Soma Kömür İşletmeleri A.Ş. (Soma Mining Inc.). The company employs close to 6,000 workers, and produces more than 3,000,000 tonnes of coal every year. The current CEO is Alp Gürka.

  "Alp Gürkan, the owner of the Aegean conglomerate Soma Holding, said that his company managed to reduce the cost of mining coal from $130-140 to $23.8 per ton “thanks to the operation methods of the private sector,” in an interview that was published on Sept. 30, 2012 by daily Hürriyet."

   For the love of God.


Did you know that in the UK, when the mines were still privately owned, it was said that a mineowner was more concerned over the loss of a pit pony than of a miner. Why ? Because he would have to pay to replace the pony.

Coal miners are treated as sub-humans in almost every part of the world. May be things are a little bit better in the EU and the US, but every where else, their lives are treated as worthless. And the sad thing about the coal mines in the US / EU is that many of them are closing down, unable to compete with the cheaper imports from China and India.

i live in coal country in western PA. There are so many regulations designed not for safety but to make US coal to expensive to compete in the markets. This drives production in the second and third world countries because they can produce more cheaply and pay their workers less. This inevitably leads to accidents and destroyed lives.   

My condolences go out to all the families that lost someone in the disaster and i hope they find survivors.

Nuclear kills?

Actually this is a subject debated on Turkey.

Today the mining company had a press conference about the incident. And what they were saying that they are controlled by the state employees regularly and they have all the documents. And this incident happened anyway. So one of the main reason in turkey people are against nuclear plant is they believe the state is not capable of control the safety. This is very understandable after we see what happened in Soma.

I am not sure where you get that information from.  US coal is doing well, year by year changes are small as a percentage and exports from the USA are growing, quadrupling since 2005. 

China and India are both coal importers not exporters so they certainly are not driving US coal out of business. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_mining_in_the_United_States

OK... may be the coal produced in the US is more or less competitive (the post above by Ron~Popeil says otherwise). But what about the EU? 90% of the coal mines have been closed down. In certain countries such as England and France, there are virtually no active coal mines.

90% ? with all the mines still operating in Germany I doubt that figure:).

Here we go with another tragedy taking hundreds of lives. MH370, South Korean ferry sinking, now this. And on it goes. Sad !God help them. My prayers are with the families who must bear this tragedy.

I don't want to be mean but do you know that around 3000 people die each day in car accidents ?
I don't like this things where people all over the world are talking about that tragedy , all the world is praying for them while in the mean time thousands die and nobody cares , because .... they died alone.

Well what can i say....it seams that it bothers you that some of my prayers are for those people who died in mines. Why don't you start a topic for all the people who dies everyday, so that way i will say a pray for all of them, who died single or in group like the one in mines?!

I didn't say that...
What is bothering me is how the media clings to a story just because of the numbers and to get some ratings and then in a week it forgets everything (even looking for the culprits) and gets to the next big tragedy
I doubt you will have enough time to say a prayer every time a human dies in an accident in this world ;).

Niothor ,it seams that only my post bother you,i see other people here who posted messages closely to mine.

You were the last in the line of fire and you quoted the news link. That's all :). Nothing personal , and also don't get the wrong idea , I also feel sorry for the disaster and the families.

Don't you know that the time is relative .......and 1 pray it can be enough for all the people in this world.

Depends to which god you're praying  , and if  you made the best choice when your parents chose your religion :).

I would really like to know if they are going to find a culprit for this or it will gain be classified like a normal accident .
Or even worse , that the dead are the ones to be blamed

What this has to do with this thread? We are talking about the 300+ people, who died because some multi-millionaire decided to cut down the security measures in the coal mine. I feel bad about the car accidents (all all the other deaths which occur daily). But those are not related to this topic.

Well , this is what I was talking about.. rather than praying for the already dead ... hang the one who is to blame for it.
But , i'm sure nothing will happen and the news will cover another story in the years to come unfortunately.

I dislike the way the media is talking  , that's all .

I assure you that my believe was my choice !And as for "hanging" the one who’s responsible for the accident in the mine.....i am 100% sure nothing will happen to him , and the Turkish government will find a way to blame the victims.

You are right. Nothing is going to happen. If you are filthy rich, then the rules of the land are not applicable to you. More so, if you are in good terms with the dictator who is ruling Turkey. Check the image below. No need to explain anything further. (Yusuf Yerkel, one of the aides to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan kicking a mourner during his visit to the Soma mine).

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/140515090858-01-turkey-protests-0515-horizontal-gallery.jpg

Now , i'm 100% sure nothing will happen.
Instead of mourning people there should be indeed hanging the ones that left in power will just cause another tragedy.

The company that operated the mine was fined by the local government over 66 times, due to many violations of safety, but through bribes and political connections to local AKP government (Erdogan's party), the company was able to keep the mine running, and it was never shut down, until yesterday's explosion.

Sorry for cursing but that mfker should be hanged!

Meanwhile nothing seems to be affecting the Turkish dictator, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

In Turkey's Mine Disaster, Erdogan Turns Tragedy Into Farce

http://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2014/05/16/in-turkeys-mine-disaster-erdogan-turns-tragedy-into-farce/

Turkey mine collapse: Recep Tayyip Erdogan told protesters they would be slapped

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/10838212/Turkey-mine-collapse-Recep-Tayyip-Erdogan-told-protesters-they-would-be-slapped.html

Erdogan is been playing with fire in the past 4 years,this won't end well for him.I wonder how long is gonna be till we see a revolution in Turkey …...?!

All these revolutions are meaningless, as they can't succeed without outside support. Erdogan enjoys unlimited support from both the US and the EU. The Russians also back him, over financial concerns. And another factor is the weak opposition in Turkey, who are unable to win any of the major elections for more than a decade now.

Fuck the government. Taner Yıldız must resign but Tayyip's pool media show him like a hero. They killed more than 500 people and they hide real numbers.

Taner Yıldız, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources? He should have resigned. But I believe that the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan holds more responsibility then Yıldız in this case. Both of them should resign and face investigations.

Unfortunately there is no justice in Turkey. Most of the public are ignorant.

Looking at the scale of the public protests and riots against the Erdogan government, it will be idiotic to say that they are ignorant. They are not, and that is why they are protesting in such numbers. I have a strong feeling that Erdogan's days are numbered.

Official death number is 302. But we all know it's way more than that.