Protests Break Out in Turkey as Death Toll from Mine Explosion Rises

http://www.thewire.com/

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has visited the coal mine where a horrific explosion and fire killed and injured hundreds of worker yesterday, announcing that the death toll from the accident is now at 232. A total of 190 workers are still unaccounted for, and Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said that hopes of their rescue "are diminishing."

The Associated Press reports that the explosion occurred during a shift change, meaning that more workers were in the mine than usual. Last night, Reuters noted that the explosion was likely caused by an electrical fault. The blast triggered a power outage that prevented elevators from running, leaving the workers trapped in the carbon-monoxide filled mine. It wasn't clear at the time whether the fire was caused by an unrelated incident. Altogether, there were 787 people in the mine at the time of the explosion. So far, 363 have been rescued. Erdogan declared three days of mourning for the dead today. But the gesture is a small one in a country where mining accidents are not uncommon, and the public is responding to the event with anger towards the government, planning protests and strikes to mark the event:

Turkey has seen a number of protests against the government since last year, when people demonstrated against the razing of a symbolic park in Istanbul. Those rallies soon became broader, taking issue with Erdogan's often oppressive policies. Now, it seems, the mining tragedy could spark a resurgence of such protests:

Meanwhile, relatives of those still trapped inside the mine are waiting anxiously for news, per Agence-France Presse:

Outside the hospital in the Turkish town of Soma, relatives waited through the night behind a double police cordon as the death toll of a blast at the nearby coal pit soared above 200 and bereaved the entire town... "I'm waiting," said Zulfer Yildirim... "Gunduz left for work this morning as he always does. We heard at about 5:00 pm and now it's 3:00 am, still no news," she said. The country's most fatal mining accident happened in 1992, when an explosion killed 263 workers.