Pressure from gov’t to produce coal for aid led to 2022 mine explosion in northern Turkey

Can Bursalı / Gazete Duvar 

Testimonies collected in the ministry report for the 2022 state-owned coal mine explosion in northern Turkey's Amasra district that killed 43 revealed that government pressure to increase coal production has led to disaster.

The report included testimony from mine manager Selçuk Ekmekçi, who said they acted on the orders of the facility manager. Ekmekçi’s testimony supported the allegations that there was production pressure in the Amasra mine, one of the locations where aid coal distributed by the government was extracted.

It was revealed that during the 15 days before the explosion, work continued to mine coal for aid distribution despite rising methane levels, and the extracted coal was distributed to those in need without even removing the rocks.

Initial detentions related to the explosion at the Turkish Hard Coal Corporation (TTK)’s Amasra Coal Enterprise (ATIM), which killed 43 miners, began on October 28, 2022. The trial over the explosion, which led to the arrest of eight people, started in April 2023.

Four of the defendants were charged with “murder with probable intent” and faced up to 1,080 years in prison, while 19 others were charged with “reckless manslaughter” and faced up to 18 years in prison. During the trial, four of the eight detained defendants were released. Facility Manager Cihat Özdemir, Mine Manager Selçuk Ekmekçi, and chief engineers Volkan Soylu and Mehmet Tural, who faced up to 1,080 years in prison, remained in custody.

While the trial continued, the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry launched an investigation into the explosion. The defendants provided statements to the ministry's inspectors. Mine Manager Selçuk Ekmekçi told the inspectors that coal extraction from a site 320 meters below ground began on the orders of Facility Manager Cihat Özdemir. Ekmekçi said this operation started 15 days before the explosion, and the coal was sold without undergoing the rock-sorting process known as “lavuar.”

Ekmekçi gave this statement to ministry inspectors in August 2024. During a hearing of the trial at the Bartın Heavy Penal Court in November 2023, testimony from transport engineer Mehmet Akif Özdamar corroborated Ekmekçi’s statements regarding the aid coal.

Özdamar stated that coal extracted from 320 meters underground was brought to the surface in wagons, where large rocks were manually sorted due to the demand for aid coal before the explosion. He indicated that this instruction came from Mine Manager Selçuk Ekmekçi.

The extracted coal was sent to those in need without even removing the rocks. During this period, operations continued because it was time to distribute aid coal despite rising methane levels in the mine, which led to the explosion.

A September 2023 expert report found the state enterprise fully at fault for the explosion, identifying nine individual negligence points at the mine. The report said that an accident was "inevitable" given the conditions.

TTK General Director Kazım Eroğlu has a long record of mine explosions. Before becoming the general director, Eroğlu was the Director of the Kozlu Plant in Zonguldak. On January 7, 2013, Eroğlu was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for "causing death by negligence" in the case related to the explosion that killed eight miners in the mine in Kozlu.

(English version by Ayşenaz Toptaş)