Turkey warns citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Libya, Nigeria

The citizens who are currently in Libya and who will still travel to the country despite the warning should take the required measures and be vigilant with their safety, the ministry said. AA Photo

The Foreign Ministry has warned #Turkish citizens to defer non-essential travel to #Libya due to recent armed clashes in #Benghazi and Tripoli, as well as to Nigeria because of a recent rise in terror and kidnapping incidents.

The Foreign Ministry posted separate warnings concerning these two countries on its official website on May 26. The citizens who are currently in Libya and who will still travel to the country despite the warning should take the required measures and be vigilant with their safety, the ministry said.

As for Nigeria, the ministry particularly cited the states: Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Benue and Taraba – and said citizens who are already in these states should particularly be careful in regard to terrorist activities and kidnappings. They should also follow the warnings and announcements from the ministry and Turkish Embassy in Abuja, the statement said.

Likewise, the citizens in Libya should carefully follow warnings and announcements from the ministry and Turkish Embassy in Tripoli, it said.

In emergency situations, citizens in these two countries should contact the ministry through the Consular Call Center (00 90 312 - 292 29 29) which is available 24 hours, the statement said. Hurryet Daily

Turkey mine disaster: '18 arrested' over Soma deaths

Police investigating the mine disaster in western Turkey have reportedly arrested 18 people, including mining company executives.

The rescue operation at the mine, in the town of Soma, ended on Saturday after the bodies of the last two workers were recovered.

The final death toll is 301, making it Turkey's worst mining disaster.
Protests against the government and mining company have broken out since Tuesday's disaster.
Both the government and Soma Holdings insist it was not caused by negligence.
The arrests are being widely reported by Turkish broadcasters.

Tuesday's disaster occurred when an explosion sent carbon monoxide gas into the mine's tunnels while 787 miners were underground. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been criticised for appearing insensitive in his reaction to the disaster.
Both Mr Erdogan and his aide Yusuf Yerkel have come under pressure after photos that appeared to show them assaulting protesters were published in Turkish media.
Source: BBC News

Turkish Authorities Say 18 Miners Still Missing

SOMA, #Turkey — As grieving families prepared to bury more of the dead from Turkey’s worst #mine disaster, the country’s energy minister said on Friday that up to 18 people were still missing and the death toll could exceed 300.

The assessment was lower than other accounts suggesting that scores of miners were still unaccounted for.

An explosion at a coal mine on Tuesday near this town in western Turkey ignited a blaze producing noxious fumes that choked hundreds of miners to death as they were changing shifts. By Friday, the death toll stood at 284, but the energy minister, Taner Yildiz, said in televised remarks to reporters that the final count was unlikely to be more than 302.

“A maximum number of 18 workers are inside,” Mr. Yildiz said, according to news reports. “We expect the toll at around 301 or 302.”

Mr. Yildiz has been saying for several days that there is little hope of finding more survivors.

The disaster rekindled concerns about safety standards and work conditions at Turkey’s mines, and there have been protests in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and other cities, with demonstrators accusing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government of indifference.

That perception deepened on Thursday when Turkish newspapers published photographs of a prime ministerial aide kicking a protester who was being held down by police during a visit to the mine on Wednesday by Mr. Erdogan, who was heckled.

On Friday, Mr. Yildiz said he hoped a reduction in the levels of toxic fumes in the mine would enable rescuers to enter its galleries to retrieve the missing miners.

Mourners planned more funerals Friday after mass burials on Thursday when, with passport-size photographs of their loved ones fastened to their chests, relatives shuffled toward the cemetery in a mourning ritual repeated for hours. At least 30 miners were buried as gravediggers toiled to make room for the bodies of the men still trapped underground.

Mr. Yildiz’s estimate of 18 miners still missing was lower than had been expected on Thursday when at least 140 miners were said to be trapped in chambers deep underground, with little hope of survival.

For the first time since the disaster, the company operating the mine offered its own comment on the deaths, saying on Friday that there was no negligence on its part and that it still did not know the exact cause of the accident, Reuters reported.

“We still do not know how the accident happened. There is no negligence of ours in this incident. We all worked heart and soul,” Akin Celik, the plant manager of the mine, run by Soma Holding, was quoted as saying.

Mr. Yildiz, the energy minister, had said earlier that anyone found to have been negligent would be punished.
Source: The New York Times

Despair, anger, dwindling hope after Turkey coal mine fire

Mine rescue efforts temporarily suspended

Soma, Turkey (CNN) -- The scene was somber, sullen and mostly silent outside the #Turkish #coal #mine. But every so often, the grief came out loud and clear.

"Enough for the life for me!" yelled one woman -- her arms flailing, tears running down her cheeks -- according to video from Turkish broadcaster DHA. "Let this mine take my life, too!"

As she was pulled away, she added, "Enough is enough."

Sadly, the torment for her and many others isn't over.

Yes, rescuers did save at least 88 miners in the frantic moments after a power transformer blew up Tuesday during shift change at the mine in the western Turkish city of Soma, sparking a choking fire deep inside.

But another 274 are known dead, according to Turkey's Natural Disaster and Emergency Coordination Directorate. Those who underwent autopsies died of carbon monoxide poisoning, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said.

There is every expectation that number will grow.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday as many as 120 more were trapped inside the mine, though that was before rescue crews grimly hurried a series of stretchers -- at least some clearly carrying corpses -- past the waiting crowd.

As helicopters buzzed overheard and flags flew at half-staff, police and rescue workers were everywhere on the scene Wednesday night. But for most, there was precious little they could do.

The smoke rose from openings in the ground showed the continuing dangers both to those trapped and anyone who dared try to get them. Rescue volunteer Mustafa Gursoy told the CNN team at the mine that conditions inside the mine were abominable -- hot, smoky and filled with carbon monoxide.

Authorities worked to pump in good air into the mine, so they could get in. However, as Davitt McAteer, a former top U.S. mine safety official points out, sending in oxygen likely would "increase the likelihood that the fire would grow and continue to put those miners at risk."

These stiff challenges notwithstanding, rescuers haven't given up hope that some miners reached emergency chambers stocked with gas masks and air.

"If they could reach those emergency rooms and reach their gas masks and close the doors and protect those emergency areas from the poison gas, then they could survive," Gursoy said. "It's possible. We are ready for anything."

But Yildiz, speaking earlier, said "hopes are diminishing" of rescuing anyone yet inside the mine.

Veysel Sengul has already given up. The miner knew that four of his friends -- at least -- are dead.

"It's too late," said Sengul. "There's no more hope."

Political fallout

The trauma from what already looks like the worst mine disaster in Turkish history has left Soma and the rest of Turkey in shock and, in some cases, in anger. The latest death toll already tops a mining accident in the 1990s that took 260 lives.

Even as officials in the United States and elsewhere offered their condolences to his people, Erdogan found himself on the defensive.

Opposition politician Ozgur Ozel from the Manisa region had filed a proposal in late April to investigate Turkish mines after repeated deadly accidents.

In some incidents three people died, in others, five, said opposition spokesman Aykut Erdogdu. And Ozel wanted to get to the bottom of the deaths.

Several dozen members of opposition parties signed on to his proposal, but the conservative government overturned it. Some of its members publicly lampooned it, he said.

Erdogan questioned Ozel's version, and said the mine had passed safety inspections as recently as March.

The mine, owned by SOMA Komur Isletmeleri A.S., underwent regular inspections in the past three years, two of them this March, Turkey's government said. Inspectors reported no violation of health and safety laws.

The company has taken down its regular website and replaced it with a single Web page in all black containing a message of condolence.

Not everyone in Soma, at least, has sided with Erdogan, who canceled a trip to Albania to tour the rescue effort and speak to relatives of dead and injured miners.

He was met by a chorus of jeers as well as chants of "Resign Prime Minister!" while walking through the city Wednesday, according to DHA video.

Video from that network, social media messages and pictures posted to Twitter showed hundreds participating in anti-government protests in Istanbul and Ankara, with police answering in some cases with water cannons and tear gas.

While not focused on mine safety, such demonstrations railing against Erdogan and his government have been commonplace in Turkey in recent months, as has the police responding with water cannons and tear gas.

In the nation's capital of Ankara, some called for silent demonstration to "stand for humanity." Others left black coffins in front of the Energy Ministry and the Labor and Social Security ministry buildings.

That grim symbol speaks to the sadness permeating Turkey, whatever one's political bent.

For Sengul, the miner waiting by the tunnel entrance for more of his friends to emerge, the mourning may go on much longer than the three days ordered by Erdogan.

After what's happened, he said, he'll never work in a mine again
Source: CNN News

Hundreds trapped in Turkish coal mine as death toll reaches 201

May 13, 2014: Miners carry a rescued friend hours after an explosion and fire at a coal mine in Soma, in western Turkey. (AP Photo)

SOMA, #Turkey –  Rescuers struggled to reach more than 200 miners trapped underground early Wednesday after an #explosion and fire at a coal mine in western Turkey killed at least 201 workers, authorities said, in one of the worst mining disasters in Turkish history.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 people were inside the coal mine in #Soma, some 155 miles south of Istanbul, at the time of the explosion and 363 of them had been rescued so far.

At least 80 miners were injured, including four who were in serious condition, Yildiz told reporters in Soma, as he oversaw the rescue operation involving more than 400 rescuers.

"Regarding the rescue operation, I can say that our hopes are diminishing," Yildiz said.
The accident occurred when the workers were preparing for a shift change, officials said, which likely raised the casualty toll because there were more miners inside the mine than usual.

The minister said the fire was still blazing inside the mine, 18 hours after the blast. The air around the mine was still smoky.The deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, Yildiz said.
A rescued miner who emerged alive was whisked away on a stretcher to the cheers of onlookers.
Earlier, the minister said the rescue operations were hindered because the mine had not completely been cleared of gas.

Authorities say the disaster followed an explosion and fire caused by a power distribution unit.á
Nurettin Akcul, a mining trade union leader, told HaberTurk television that Turkey was likely facing its worst mining accident ever.

"Time is working against us. We fear that the numbers could rise further," Yildiz said. "We have to finish this (rescue operation) by dawn. I have to say that our pain, our trouble could increase."
Earlier Yildiz said some of the workers were 460 yards deep inside the mine. News reports said the workers could not use lifts to get out of the mine because the explosion had caused a power cut.

Workers from nearby mines were brought in to help the rescue operation. One 30-year-old man, who declined to give his name, says he rushed to the scene to try to help find his brother who was still missing early Wednesday with the sun rising over the mine. He said he was able to make it about 150 meters  (490 feet) inside before gasses forced him to retreat. With tears in his eyes, he said that there were still fires burning and that the missing workers had been inside too long.
"There is no hope," he said.

During the night, people cheered and applauded as some trapped workers emerged from the mine, helped by rescuers, their faces and hard-hats covered in soot.á But dozens of ambulances drove back and forth to carry the rising number of bodies as well as injured workers extracted from the mine. Rescue workers were massed at the entrance of the mine on a hillside.

Family members at the scene pleaded for news of their loved ones.
A group of women sat wailing near the entrance to the mine. One of the women, Emine Gulsen, chanted in song, "My son is gone, my Mehmet." Her son, Mehmet Gulsen, 31, has been working in the mine for five years. He started his shift Tuesday morning and had not emerged.

Mehmet Gulsen's aunt, Makbule Dag, held out hope. "Inshallah" (God willing), she said.
Police set up fences and stood guard around Soma state hospital to keep the crowds away.
Authorities had earlier said that the blast left between 200 to 300 miners underground and made arrangements to set up a cold storage facility to hold the corpses of miners recovered from the site.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan postponed a one-day visit to Albania scheduled for Wednesday and planned to visit Soma instead.

SOMA Komur Isletmeleri A.S., which owns the mine, said the accident occurred despite the "highest safety measures and constant controls" and added that an investigation was being launched.
"Our main priority is to get our workers out so that they may be reunited with their loved ones," the company said in a statement.

Turkey's Labor and Social Security Ministry said the mine had been inspected five times since 2012, including in March of 2014, and that no issues violating work safety and security were detected.
The country's main opposition party said that Erdogan's ruling party had recently voted down its proposal for the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry into a series of small scale accidents at mines around Soma.
Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which is plagued by poor safety conditions.
Turkey's worst mining disaster was a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.
Source: Business Insider

201 Dead, Hundreds Trapped in Turkish Coal Mine

An injured miner is carried out by rescuers after a mine explosion in Soma, a town in the Turkish province of Manisa, on May 13, 2014

At least 201 are dead after a power-distribution unit caused a deadly explosion and fire in a Turkish coal mine in the western part of the country

An explosion at a coal mine in Turkey killed at least 201 workers on Tuesday, officials said, and about 200 people were believed to be still trapped inside early on Wednesday.
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said early Wednesday that 787 people were working in the mine when the accident occurred, the Associated Press reports. Yildiz also said that carbon-monoxide poisoning was the cause of most fatalities. A local administrator said the explosion and fire were caused by a power-distribution unit.

“Time is working against us,” Yildiz said, noting that close to 400 people were involved in the recovery efforts, which had rescued 363 of the miners so far.

An official told NBC News that rescue teams were inside the mine, providing oxygen to those still trapped.
The company that owns the mine, located in Soma, approximately 250 km (155 miles) south of Istanbul, confirmed that some of its workers were killed but would not give a specific number. The poor safety conditions of Turkey’s mining industry make accidents common.
Source: The Time News

An injured miner came out carried by rescuers, on May 13, 2014 after an explosion in a coal mine in Manisa. (Bulent Kilic—AFP/Getty Images)

20 reportedly killed in mine explosion in Turkey

At least 20 miners has been reported killed and up to 200-300 trapped after an explosion caused a fire in a coal mine in the western #Turkish province of Manisa, healths officials told #NTV.

The death toll remains unconfirmed, with some media reports only reporting one person dead in the accident. Between 200-300 miners were working in the mine at the time of the explosion. Some media reports have put the number of trapped miners at 200-300, while others have estimated that figure to be in the dozens. Local administrator Mehmet Bahattin Atci told AP 20 people had been rescued so far.
.
The mayor of Soma, a district in Manisa, told the network the explosion was caused by an electrical fault, Reuters says. . There are thus far no reports about injuries.
Source: RT

Turkey court to hear witnesses in police murder trial

People hold a Turkish national flag during a protest. PHOTO: AFP

KAYSERI: A #Turkish court will hear key testimonies Monday in the trial of eight men, including four #policemen, accused of beating a teenage student to death during anti-regime protests last year.

Ali Ismail Korkmaz died after being pummeled with baseball b
ats and truncheons in the western city of Eskisehir on June 2 – one of eight people to perish in the three weeks of protests that convulsed the country of 76 million.

Heval Yilmaz Karasu, who represents Korkmaz’s family, told #AFP on Sunday that almost a dozen key witnesses would give testimonies in the case.
“New evidence laid down in the expert report has disproved police testimonies,” Gurkan Korkmaz, elder brother of Korkmaz and also a lawyer in the case, told AFP on Monday.
“We are demanding the immediate arrest of the suspects pending trial,” he added. The case is likely to be concluded after two or three hearings.

About 1,000 protesters, mostly young people, gathered outside the courthouse in Kayseri despite tight security measures.
“Ali’s murderer is the AKP police”, they chanted, referring to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). “Youth will come, the AKP will go.”
The attack was recorded by security cameras and the 19-year-old Korkmaz, wearing a “World Peace” T-shirt, suffered a brain haemorrhage and died after 38 days in a coma.
Eight men, including four plain-clothes policemen, are accused of premeditated murder and face between 10 years and life behind bars if convicted.

During the first hearing of the case in March, the four police officers denied beating Korkmaz to death.
An expert report analysing mobile phone signals and published in local media this month suggested the suspects may have been in the same area as Korkmaz on the day of the incident.

Karasu said that new evidence and witnesses’ testimonies would determine the course of the case.
Authorities moved the trial nearly 350 miles east of Eskisehir to Kayseri in a bid to avoid fresh trouble.
An estimated 2.5 million people took to the streets across Turkey over three weeks last June to demand Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s resignation. More than 8,000 people were injured, according to medics.

The death of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan after 269 days in a coma in March brought the toll from the unrest to at least eight, including one policeman.

Erdogan called the demonstrators “vandals” and police used tear gas, plastic bullets and, according to Amnesty International, even live ammunition on the demonstrators. Thousands were arrested.
After 11 years at the helm, Erdogan has been accused of seeking “one-man rule” and erratically lashing out at critics, from former allies to street protesters and Twitter users.
Erdogan, 60, co-founder of the powerful AKP, scored a crushing victory in March 30 local elections despite corruption allegations targeting himself and his inner circle.

His handling of the graft scandal, and also of last year’s unrest, have dented his popularity however and the Turkish strongman is now tipped to run for the largely ceremonial post of president in August.
Source: Tribune Pakistan