Four people were arrested this Wednesday Türkiye after a mining disaster in which at least nine workers were buried Land contaminated with cyanideand that beyond that threatens to become one serious environmental problem. State television TRT claims that the mine’s director is one of those arrested, although not many other details are currently available. Tuesday’s landslide at this gold mine in Turkey’s Erzincan province has buried nine miners and threatens to trigger an ecological disaster due to the possible release of toxic substances into the nearby Euphrates River. The collapse occurred in an open-pit mine near the Bagistas reservoir. about 90 kilometers from the city of Erzincan, in eastern Turkey. Of those missing, five were believed to be in a cabin, three in a vehicle and one in a truck.
The tragedy has taken on an international dimension as the landslide, consisting of 10 million cubic meters of contaminated soil, threatens to trigger new avalanches and contaminate the Euphrates, also leading to contamination crosses Syria and Iraq, due to heavy rainfall in the region. More than 800 people are taking part in the search for the workers, an operation complicated by the rains and the presence of cyanide and other dangerous chemicals.
Deniz Yavuzyilmaz, The vice president of the largest opposition party, the social democratic CHP, criticized the handling of the crisis, noting that toxic substances are mixing with groundwater and posing a danger not only to Turkey but also to neighboring countries such as Syria and Iraq. “Toxic substances and chemical waste mix with the groundwater here through rain. These waters feed the rivers. The problem here is international in nature. “These waters cross Turkish borders and reach Syria and Iraq,” he said.
Yavuzyilmaz also mentioned the rupture of cyanide pipes in the landslide area and emphasized that there is a seismic fault beneath the mine. Other experts agree that the disaster was foreseeable due to the mine’s location in a Area subject to rainfall and tectonic movements.
The mine, which has been repeatedly asked to close by local residents due to the danger it poses, has been producing gold since December 2010 and is operated by Anagold company, Ownership of 80% of the Canadian SSR Mining and 20% from the Turkish group Çalik.
He The holding company Çalik, one of Turkey’s largest industrial groups, is considered to be close to the Islamist AKP party and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan’s son-in-law Berat Albayrak was Çalik’s managing director from 2007 to 2013. After an oil spill in June 2022, in which tons of cyanide solution mixed with the ground, the company’s operations were suspended for three months, but were then allowed to resume after a fine in a larger area.