The Turkish Coal Mine Tragedy At Soma
The Turkish Coal Mine Tragedy At Soma: The Urgent Need For Proactive Measures To Curb Such Disasters
A total of 88 miners were saved when a power transformer blew up in the western Turkish city of Soma recently. 274 miners lost their lives in this tragedy according to the Natural Disaster and Emergency Coordination Directorate at Turkey. This has been counted as the biggest mining disaster in Turkey. The coal industry now needs to ask itself if miners should be exposed to the danger of working below ground. Making miners work 400 to 700 meters below the ground mars their health and exposes them to danger. The danger of sending down people where there are combustible substances is huge.
Sending workers underground at such depths has been opposed and outlawed in many countries across the world. Germany produces more coal than Turkey yet it has entirely remote controlled robotic systems and special machinery for doing this. Countries with a strong mining sector need to have machines rather than sending people to such depths below to work in dangerous settings. Mine workers can be trained so that they can join safer sectors in the industry. Proactive measures to prevent such a massive tragedy involve generating jobs in other sectors and automating the coal industry.
Turkey has declared 3 days of national mourning following this tragedy. It is with great sorrow that one watches the suffering of the mine workers and their family and friends. Commercial sectors that endanger human life should be mechanised. At Soma, the smoke rose from openings in the ground and this endangered the lives of the victims as well as the rescuers. The condition inside the mine was deadly, according to rescue volunteers quoted by several leading media agencies.
Authorities tried to pump oxygen into the mine to enable rescuers to get in and help the trapped miners. But US mine safety officials now point out that sending in oxygen was likely to put the miners at further risk by increasing the intensity of the fire. The trauma from the worst mine disaster in the history of Turkey has intensified as the nation mourns the victims of this disaster. Politicians from the opposition had filed a proposal in April to investigate the Turkish mines after continuous series of deadly accidents. While authorities insist that safety inspections for the mine had been passed as recently as March, there are many questions that remain unanswered.
4 out of 25 persons questioned in this tragedy have been arrested and the investigations are on. The mine underwent regular inspections during the past 3 years and there were no reported instances of violation of health or safety laws. Another issue is that mine officials may not have had access to the emergency refuge where they could have sought protection from rising carbon monoxide levels and the flames. The mining company involved says it had no legal obligation to build safety chambers. When any disaster of such epic proportions occur, there are failures at several levels including safety legislation as well as implementation of the policy. Proactive measures and mine reforms are sorely needed in Turkey, if future tragedies have to be prevented.
