Search and rescue teams on Thursday retrieved the body of an eighth miner from a copper mine that collapsed in the province of Siirt in southeastern Turkey while eight others remain trapped underground.
Twelve miners were trapped in the copper mine late on Thursday after it was reportedly hit by a landslide, triggering a collapse that initially killed four people whose bodies were recovered by rescuers.
The bodies of three more miners were retrieved during the past several days.
The Siirt Governor’s Office said an investigation has been launched, but authorities believe a landslide triggered by heavy rains caused the mine collapse.
Six people including the mine’s manager and two work safety experts have been detained by the police so far in relation to the mine tragedy in Şirvan.
In 2014, 301 miners were killed in a fire inside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey — the nation’s worst mining disaster. The tragedy exposed poor safety standards and superficial government inspections in Turkey’s mines.