The family of one of the 301 workers killed in the Soma disaster, will be paid TL 395,000 ($134,900) in total, following a court's decision on Wednesday in regards to the family's lawsuit against the mine's operator and the state-run Turkish Coal Enterprises (TKİ) regional institution for mental anguish.
The disaster on May 13, 2014, which resulted in the deaths of 301 people, was the deadliest mining incident in Turkey's history. Many families of the victims have since then filed lawsuits arguing that there was negligence on the part of the coal-company and TKİ.
The first mental anguish lawsuit to be completed among about 400 families' similar cases, belongs to the family of Özay Eren. The Manisa court ruled on Wednesday that the killed worker Özay Eren's father and mother would be each paid TL 75,000, whereas the victim's seven siblings would each get TL 35,000, amounting to a total of TL 395,000 compensation for the family.
The lawyer representing the Eren family, Sercan Okur told reporters that this case would set a precedent for other cases. Okur said that the mine's operator and TKİ would be both jointly and severally responsible for the compensation, adding that the awarded amount was not enough.
"When we look at court rulings and supreme court practices in cases of previous mine disasters, we think that the awarded moral damages [TL 395,000] is a quite high amount, but still we do not think that it is not a enough sum. This is why we will appeal the ruling," he said.
