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Vol. 74/No. 22      June 7, 2010

 
Gas explosion in coal mine
in Turkey kills 28 workers
 
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS  
A powerful methane gas explosion killed at least 28 miners in Turkey May 17 at the state-owned Karadon mine in the northwest province of Zonguldak. Two other miners are “believed to be either buried under or beyond a pile of earth and rock in the mine,” reported Agence France-Presse.

In the past five months, mine explosions in Turkey have killed 60 workers. The country has the third highest number of mine deaths in the world, reported Hürriyet, a Turkish newspaper.

In comments May 21, the country’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, trivialized the deaths. “It is impossible to prevent a methane gas explosion 100 percent,” he said. “Unfortunately, this is the fate of this profession in many places throughout the world.”

Two days earlier “scuffles broke out” between police, relatives of the miners, and other protesters when the prime minister paid a visit to the mine area, reported CNN.

In the United States, another miner—James Delbarton—died from injuries received May 10 at Massey Energy’s Ruby Energy Mine in southern West Virginia. This brings the toll to 36 coal miners killed on the job in the United States so far this year.
 
 
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Lessons from 111-day miners’ strike in 1977-78  
 
 
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