An expert report will be presented to the court overseeing the lawsuit regarding the mining disaster that occurred in Ermenek in central Turkey last year. The report blames the owners and executives of the private mining company as well as inspectors from the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources for the incident that killed 18 miners.
A report emerged on Sunday investigating the flooding in the mine that took place on October 28, 2014.
Prepared by a team of mining experts, the report lists a number of shortcomings in work safety standards and inspections. According to the document, the miners knew the location of emergency exits but were panicking due to a "lack of safety drills."
Victims were trapped hundreds of meters below the surface when a sudden outpouring of water from an old, adjacent mine quickly inundated the galleries and led to an accumulation of coal, slime and debris that blocked the galleries. According to the report, water that had accumulated in an underground reservoir erupted into the mine as a result of the mining company leaving less space than was required between the old and new mines. Some workers in the mine have said that the company ignored complaints of water leaking from cracks days before the disaster and that they continued production for the sake of boosting profits instead of heeding calls for worker safety. The mining company played down smaller leaks of water, according to the report.
The report found that the company "acted against regulations" by failing to report the fact that mining operations were exceeding the space required to meet safety standards.
Experts also discovered that the galleries, stairs and retaining walls collapsed as a result of improper construction. They also found that the pipes used for draining water from the mine were not installed properly.
Furthermore, the movement of workers during the disaster also revealed how unprepared they were for such an emergency. "Their location shows they were heading to the main entrance and perceived safe areas instead of the proper emergency exits. This reaction must be linked to the lack of emergency drills in the mine. The miners panicked since they had not received proper training in case of an emergency. Moreover, there was a lack of equipment available to be used in emergencies," the report revealed. The report also found that the electricity generator powering the mine was insufficient to supply power throughout the site in case of an emergency.
The report underlines that the flooding was not "a natural disaster" as mining company officials have claimed.
Staff at the General Directorate of Mining Works (MİGEM) of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources were also found to be negligent. "The company neglected work safety standards despite warnings by MİGEM officials. The mine was shut down on July 25, 2014, but another delegation of inspectors from the MİGEM approved the reopening of the mine after a second inspection on September 5," the report said. "It is obvious that nothing changed in terms of work safety between the first inspection and the second inspection. High-ranking officials at the MİGEM ignored warnings by their subordinates, and therefore, they hold ultimate responsibility [for the incident]," it concludes.
Additionally in the report, Abdullah Özbey, who leased the mine to Has Şekerler Madencilik, was accused of not informing the company renting the mine about the locations at risk. Also, Saffet Uyar, the owner of Has Şekerler, is accused of not requesting maps of the mine showing the places at risk of flooding.
Eighteen workers were trapped underground after the mine flooded. Search and rescue crews recovered the bodies of all victims over a period of 38 days. Saffet Uyar, Abdullah Özbey, the mine's executive, Mehmet Zeybek and mining engineers Ali Kurt and Yavuz Özsoy, were arrested following the disaster. Özsoy and Zeybek were released pending trial at a hearing on February 5.
The incident in Ermenek, a mining town in the province of Karaman, sparked outrage over the lack of worker safety in Turkish mines, an issue that has been in the spotlight since the disaster in May last year killed 301 workers in another mine in Soma in western Turkey.
The government pledged to introduce tougher measures against mining companies that neglect the safety of workers, as well as to introduce new legislation. A mining bill that imposes tougher regulations on the sector has already been passed.
The bill requires employers to assign a job security expert, a doctor and health staff, with stipulations that coal miners will be paid no less than double the minimum wage.
The new bill also includes new regulations about reservoir mining, which has drawn criticism following the Ermenek incident. One of the most crucial regulations introduced by the bill will be the cancellation of royalties in coal mining. From now on, private companies will not be able to obtain rights to a mine and then transfer them to another company for higher amounts. With the new bill, whoever obtains the license will also have to operate the mine. Therefore, the public sector will only share coal mines and other underground resources with those willing to operate and exploit them properly, otherwise such resources will not be granted to private sector companies.
Furthermore, from prospecting to operating, all processes will be reported and the level of requirements and qualifications requested from employees have been increased.
Although Turkey has regulations in place to ensure standards in work safety, accidents, or rather incidents, still regularly claim lives. Officials say that regulations are "clearer" than those required by the International Labor Organization (ILO) agreement, which critics have called on Turkey to implement. They also claim that they are meticulous in risk assessment and inspections regarding dangerous sectors such as construction and mining. The country approved full implementation of ILO agreement last year.