Hundreds of rescuers deployed in search for 9 workers missing at landslide-hit Turkish gold mine
ABC News
Turkey's interior minister says hundreds of rescuers have been deployed to search for at least nine workers who are reported missing after a massive landslide engulfed a gold mine in eastern Turkey
ANKARA, Turkey -- Hundreds of rescuers on Wednesday pressed ahead with efforts to search for at least nine workers trapped at a gold mine in eastern Turkey that was engulfed by a massive landslide.
The landslide struck the Copler mine in the town of Ilic in Turkey’s mountainous Erzincan province on Tuesday. Footage seemingly shot by a worker showed a huge mass of earth rushing down a gully, overrunning everything in its path. The landslide involved a mound of soil extracted from the mine, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
Some 800 search and rescue personnel, including police and military teams, mine rescuers and volunteers, were deployed to find the mine workers, Yerlikaya said early Wednesday.
Other workers at the mine have also joined the efforts to rescue their colleagues, while families of the missing waited at an area close to the mine for news of their loved ones, Haberturk television reported.
An investigation into the disaster has been launched.
