One of nine miners buried under a landslide in Turkey’s eastern Erzincan province in February whose body was finally retrieved after 53 days underground has been laid to rest, Turkish media outlets reported over the weekend.
Some 10 million cubic meters of soil contaminated with cyanide and sulfuric acid tumbled down the heap leach pad of the Çöpler gold mine in the İliç district of Erzincan on February 13, leaving nine miners trapped.
The rescue efforts following the disaster were hindered by the looming threat of further landslides.
The body of 33-year-old Uğur Yıldız, one of the nine trapped miners, was retrieved late on April 5.
He was laid to rest the next day with a funeral ceremony held in a village in the Otlukbeli district.
Search operations are continuing for the bodies of the remaining eight workers.