Turkey opts for microchips to protect miners
Reluctant to enforce the addition of costly safe rooms in mines, the Turkish government proposes to equip miners with microchips, a measure that would mostly serve to locate their corpses in the event of accidents.
Mining accidents seem to be Turkey’s destiny. Deadly disasters caused by methane gas explosions, fires, cave-ins and flooding occur almost on a yearly basis. More than 3,000 miners have been killed in Turkey since 1941, including 78 in 2012 and 95 in 2013.
The main reason behind the tragedies is the inadequate level of safety measures in workplaces. In October 2013, lawmakers of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), backed by colleagues from the two other opposition parties in parliament, submitted a proposal to create a parliamentary inquiry commission to look into the rising number of accidents. The proposal, spearheaded by CHP deputy Ozgur Ozel, called for an inquiry into the reasons and persons responsible for deadly accidents in Soma, a region dotted with coal mines in western Turkey. The proposal, which made it to the general assembly only on April 29, was voted down by Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmakers, who hold a comfortable majority in parliament.
Two weeks later, on May 13, the deadliest mining accident in Turkish history struck Soma, claiming 301 lives. In fact, to call the disaster an “accident” may be inaccurate. The miners might have not perished had they had safe rooms as their colleagues in European countries do.
Turkish employers, however, are loath to make costly investments. The boss of the Soma mine, for instance, preferred to use his earnings from the mine to erect a luxury residential building in Istanbul rather than setting up safe rooms, each of which would have rescued 40 workers. The $250,000 cost of a safe room was too expensive for 40 lives!
