Authorities have arrested six people in connection with a landslide at a gold mine in eastern Turkey that has trapped nine miners underground since Tuesday.
The tragedy occurred at the Üçler gold mine in Erzincan province on Tuesday when a massive landslide sent some 10 million cubic meters of earth contaminated with cyanide and sulphuric acid sliding down a 200-meter-high slope.
The search and rescue operation is now in its fifth day.
More than 1,000 personnel from various agencies, including the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), the gendarmerie, the Turkish Armed Forces and nongovernmental organizations, are working to find the trapped miners. The efforts are supported by five drones focused on two specific areas where the miners are believed to be trapped, according to Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar.
Among those arrested are several executives of the mining company, including a Canadian citizen. The mine is operated by Anagold Madencilik and is jointly owned by Turkey’s Çalık Holding and SSR Mining, based in Denver, Colorado.
The İstanbul Bar Association has filed criminal charges of abuse of public duty, involuntary manslaughter and environmental crimes against various individuals, including Anagold Madencilik officials, former environment minister Murat Kurum and experts involved in the approval of the environmental impact assessment for the mine.
The mine had previously been declared safe from landslides in environmental impact assessments conducted during Kurum’s tenure as minister of environment, urbanization and climate change. Kurum is currently the mayoral candidate for İstanbul from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and has been criticized for his share of responsibility in the high death toll of major earthquakes that struck southern Turkey in 2023 and killed more than 53,000 people.
A preliminary expert report commissioned by the Erzincan Public Prosecutor’s Office states that Anagold Madencilik does not bear primary responsibility for the incident and instead blames subcontractors for a lack of supervision, the T24 news website reported. However, the report names five people, including the deputy plant manager, the oxide process manager and the chief engineer of the oxide plant, as being primarily responsible. These individuals reportedly ignored the cracks that had formed in the heap leach field, which posed a significant risk, and failed to evacuate the area even though they were aware of the hazards.