ANKARA (AP) – Authorities on Wednesday detained four people in connection with a massive landslide that engulfed a gold mine in eastern Turkiye, leaving at least nine workers missing, Turkish state media reported.
The landslide struck the Anagold Madencilik company’s Copler mine in the town of Ilic in Turkiye’s mountainous Erzincan province on Tuesday. The landslide involved a mound of soil extracted from the mine, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
More than 800 search and rescue personnel, including police and military teams, mine rescuers and volunteers, were deployed to search for the nine missing personnel, Yerlikaya said.
Other workers at the mine have also joined the efforts to rescue their colleagues, while families of the missing waited in an area close to the mine for news of their loved ones, Haberturk television reported. Police, meanwhile, detained four senior mine officials, including the field manager, as part of an investigation into the disaster, national broadcaster TRT reported.
Speaking during a visit to Egypt, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the search and rescue mission would continue until all of the mine workers are found.
“Search and rescue efforts for these nine brothers are continuing intensively,” Erdogan said. “The efforts will continue until we reach the workers.”
Yerlikaya later told reporters that five of the missing workers were believed to be near or inside a metal container when the landslide hit.
Three others were either inside or close to a vehicle, while another was inside a truck, he said, adding that rescuers were using radar detection devices to try to locate the missing.
