The 2010 Zonguldak mine disaster occurred in Zonguldak Province, Turkey, on May 17, when 30 miners died in a firedamp explosion at the Karadon coal mine.
The mine is operated by the state-owned Turkish Coal Corporation (Türkiye Taşkömürü Kurumu, TTK). On May 20, 2010, rescuers retrieved the bodies of 28 workers; [1] the bodies of two more were only recovered eight months later. [2] This was the third mining disaster in Turkey in six months: 19 miners were killed in December 2009 in a methane gas explosion in Bursa Province, and in February 2010, 13 miners died after an explosion in a mine in Balıkesir Province. [1]
According to statistics collected by the General Mine Workers Union (Genel Maden İşçileri Sendikası) of Turkey, 25,655 accidents occurred in Turkish Coal Corporation mines during the preceding ten years (2000–2009), in which over 26,000 mine workers were injured, and 63 lost their lives. [3] According to statistics by the Chamber of Mining Engineers (Maden Mühendisleri Odası) of Turkey, a total of 135 miners were killed in mining accidents in general in the years 2008 and 2009. [4]
Prime Minister Erdoğan, visiting the site of Zonguldak in 2010 after the accident, declared that the "people of this region are used to incidents like this", which are "the fate [ Turkish : kader] of this profession", while calling protests against the unsafe working conditions in the state mines a "provocation". [5]
Several other mining disasters have occurred in Turkey’s mines:
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is called a "pit", and above-ground mining structures are referred to as a "pit head". In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine.
Zonguldak Province is a province along the western Black Sea coast region of Turkey. Its area is 3,342 km2, and its population is 588,510 (2022). Its adjacent provinces are Düzce to the southwest, Bolu to the south, Karabük to the southeast, and Bartın to the east. The capital is Zonguldak. Its Governor is Osman Hacıbektaşoğlu.
Firedamp is any flammable gas found in coal mines, typically coalbed methane. It is particularly found in areas where the coal is bituminous. The gas accumulates in pockets in the coal and adjacent strata and when they are penetrated the release can trigger explosions. Historically, if such a pocket was highly pressurized, it was termed a "bag of foulness".
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals or metals. Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially from underground coal mining, although accidents also occur in hard rock mining. Coal mining is considered much more hazardous than hard rock mining due to flat-lying rock strata, generally incompetent rock, the presence of methane gas, and coal dust. Most of the deaths these days occur in developing countries, and rural parts of developed countries where safety measures are not practiced as fully. A mining disaster is an incident where there are five or more fatalities.
The Blantyre mining disaster, which happened on the morning of 22 October 1877, in Blantyre, Scotland, was Scotland's worst ever mining accident. Pits No. 2 and No. 3 of William Dixon's Blantyre Colliery were the site of an explosion which killed 207 miners, possibly more, with the youngest being a boy of 11. It was known that firedamp was present in the pit and it is likely that this was ignited by a naked flame. The accident left 92 widows and 250 fatherless children.
The Senghenydd colliery disaster, also known as the Senghenydd explosion, occurred at the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd, near Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Wales, on 14 October 1913. The explosion, which killed 439 miners and a rescuer, is the worst mining accident in the United Kingdom. Universal Colliery, on the South Wales Coalfield, extracted steam coal, which was much in demand. Some of the region's coal seams contained high quantities of firedamp, a highly explosive gas consisting of methane and hydrogen.
The Oaks explosion, which happened at a coal mine in West Riding of Yorkshire on 12 December 1866, remains the worst mining disaster in England. A series of explosions caused by firedamp ripped through the underground workings at the Oaks Colliery at Hoyle Mill near Stairfoot in Barnsley killing 361 miners and rescuers. It was the worst mining disaster in the United Kingdom until the 1913 Senghenydd explosion in Wales.
The Brunner Mine disaster happened at 9:30 am on Thursday 26 March 1896, when an explosion deep in the Brunner Mine, in the West Coast region of New Zealand, killed all 65 miners below ground. The Brunner Mine disaster is the deadliest mining disaster in New Zealand's history.
The Minnie Pit disaster was a coal mining accident that took place on 12 January 1918 in Halmer End, Staffordshire, in which 155 men and boys died. The disaster, which was caused by an explosion due to firedamp, is the worst ever recorded in the North Staffordshire Coalfield. An official investigation never established what caused the ignition of flammable gases in the pit.
The Drummond Mine explosion, also called the Drummond Colliery Disaster, was a mining accident that happened in Westville, Pictou County, Nova Scotia on May 13, 1873.
Energy resources bring with them great social and economic promise, providing financial growth for communities and energy services for local economies. However, the infrastructure which delivers energy services can break down in an energy accident, sometimes causing considerable damage. Energy fatalities can occur, and with many systems deaths will happen often, even when the systems are working as intended.
On 13 May 2014, blasting at Eynez coal mine in Soma, Manisa, Turkey, caused an underground mine fire, which burned until 15 May. In total, 301 people were killed, making it the worst mine disaster in Turkey's history. The mine, operated by coal producer Soma Kömür İşletmeleri A.Ş., suffered a fire, the causes of which were later found to be complex. The fire occurred at the mine's shift change, when 787 workers were underground. At the time, the disaster was thought to be mainly an explosion rather than fire. After the last bodies were pulled from the mine on 17 May 2014, four days after the fire, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yıldız confirmed the number of dead was 301. Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) announced the names of the 301 workers who died in the mine disaster and the 486 miners who survived.
In February 2016, a series of explosions caused the deaths of 36 people, including 31 miners and five rescue workers, at the Severnaya coal mine 10 kilometres north of the city of Vorkuta, Komi Republic, Russia. The explosions were believed to be caused by ignition of leaking methane gas. It is the second deadliest mining disaster of the 2010s behind the Soma mine disaster, and fourth deadliest of the 21st century thus far.
The Lundhill Colliery explosion was a coal mining accident which took place on 19 February 1857 in Wombwell, Yorkshire, UK in which 189 men and boys aged between 10 and 59 died. It is one of the biggest industrial disasters in the country's history and it was caused by a firedamp explosion. It was the first disaster to appear on the front page of the Illustrated London News.
Coal supplies a quarter of Turkey's primary energy. The heavily subsidised coal industry generates over a third of the country's electricity and emits a third of Turkey's greenhouse gases.
The Luisenthal mine disaster was the most serious mine accident in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. The explosion killed 299 miners.
On 14 October 2022, an explosion occurred in Amasra coal mine in Amasra, Bartın Province, Turkey, killing 42 people and injuring 27. It was one of the deadliest industrial incidents in Turkey.
On 10 April 1824 an explosion occurred in the Saint-Louis coal mine in Champagney, France. The explosion, called the first disaster at the Saint-Louis coal mine, was the first firedamp explosion in the Ronchamp and Champagney coalfields (Haute-Saône) and one of the first in France. It was also one of the deadliest in the history of the Ronchamp coal mines, killing twenty and injuring sixteen. The disaster had a profound impact on the local population and national opinion, calling into question the safety of firedamp mines and the conditions of ventilation.