SOMA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish women sang improvised laments
about the departed over freshly dug graves Thursday, even as backhoes
carved row upon row of graves into the dirt and hearses lined up outside
the cemetery with more victims of Turkey’s worst mining disaster.
Rescue
teams recovered another nine victims, raising the death toll to 283,
with scores of people still unaccounted for, according to government
figures. The disaster Tuesday has set off protests around Turkey and
thrown Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s presidential ambitions off
stride. Blackening his reputation further, one of Erdogan’s aides was
seen kicking a protester held on the ground by armed police.
At a
graveyard in the western town of Soma, where coal mining has been the
main industry for decades, women wailed loudly in an improvised display
of mourning. They swayed and sang songs about their relatives as the
bodies were taken from coffins and lowered into their graves. Pictures
of the lost relatives were pinned onto their clothing.
"The love of my life is gone," some sang, chanting the names of dead miners.
No
miner has been brought out alive since dawn Wednesday from the Soma
coal mine where the explosion and fire took place. Mourners said they
spent their whole lives fearing something like this.
"The wives of
the miners kiss their husbands in the morning. When they come back,
even if they are five minutes late, everyone starts calling. You never
know what is going to happen," said Gulizar Donmez, 45, the daughter and
wife of a miner and neighbor of one of the victims.
Energy
Minister Taner Yildiz said the search for survivors has been hampered by
a mine fire that had spread to a conveyor system — engulfing a 200
meter-long (650-foot) stretch — but progress was made Thursday on
extinguishing it. Rescue operations have been suspended several times as
burning coal inside created toxic fumes and too-risky conditions for
the rescue teams.
Emergency crews detected a drop in carbon monoxide levels "which means that the fire has gotten
smaller," he said.
Erdogan,
who is expected to soon announce his candidacy for Turkey’s
presidential election in August, was not welcome during his visit
Wednesday. He was forced to take refuge at a supermarket after angry
crowds called him a murderer and a thief, in a reference to alleged
corruption, and clashed with police.
Turkish newspapers printed
photographs Thursday of an Erdogan aide kicking a protester who was
being held on the ground by special forces police. The aide, Yusuf
Yerkel, issued a statement Thursday that expressed regret but also
claimed he was provoked.
"I am sorry that I was not able to keep
calm despite all the provocations, insults and attacks that I was
subjected to," he said.
Erdogan had appeared somewhat tone-deaf to
residents’ grief Wednesday, calling mining accidents "ordinary things"
that occur in many other countries.
In contrast, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, visiting Soma on Thursday, described the coal mine explosion
as "a huge disaster."
"The pain is felt by us all," he said.
The
mood was more restrained than during Erdogan’s visit, though locals
angry at what they saw as the slow rescue operation still shouted at
him, demanding that more should be done to reach possible survivors.
Erdogan
has made no secret of his desire to become Turkey’s first popularly
elected president. His party swept local elections in March despite a
corruption scandal that forced him to dismiss four government ministers
in December and later also implicated him and family members. Erdogan
denies corruption, calling the allegations part of a plot to bring his
government down.
Protests broke out in Istanbul, Ankara and other
cities Wednesday over the deaths and poor safety conditions at mines
around the country. In Istanbul and Izmir, authorities used water
cannons and tear gas to break up the protests.
Turkey’s largest
trade union confederation, representing some 800,000 workers, joined a
one-day strike Thursday by other unions to demand better conditions for
workers. Miners in Zonguldak gathering in front of a pit Thursday but
did not enter it. In Istanbul, a group chanted anti-government slogans
and carried a large banner that read: "It’s not an accident, it’s
murder."
Authorities said the disaster followed an explosion and a
fire at a power distribution unit, and most deaths were caused by
carbon monoxide poisoning.
The government has said 787 people were
inside the coal mine at the time of Tuesday’s explosion, and that 383
were rescued, many with injuries. Tuesday’s explosion tore through the
mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, which likely raised
the casualty toll.
The death toll made it Turkey’s worst mining
accident, topping a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the
Black Sea port of Zonguldak.
Erdogan promised that Tuesday’s
tragedy would be investigated to its "smallest detail" and that "no
negligence will be ignored." Hurriyet newspaper reported that a team of
15 prosecutors has been assigned to investigate the Soma explosion.
Turkey’s
Labor and Social Security Ministry said the mine had been inspected
five times since 2012, most recently in March, when no safety violations
were detected. But the country’s opposition party said Erdogan’s ruling
party had voted down a proposal to hold a parliamentary inquiry into
several smaller accidents at the mines around Soma.
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Fraser reported from Ankara.