Nine gold mine workers are trapped underground after a cyanide-laced field in Turkey collapsed over their open pit on Tuesday, prompting a search involving hundreds of rescuers.
The landslide at the mine in the remote Ilic district of the eastern Erzincan province, swept across a valley and crashed into a road where some of the workers were travelling by vehicle.
There was no news from nine out of 667 mine employees after the landslide, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
"We installed our [rescue] vehicles, our generators and our night-lighting equipment," Mr Yerlikaya told state-run TRT television.
"We have only one wish: to be able to give good news to the families of these brothers."
Experts and local officials said the search was complicated by the presence of cyanide – a highly toxic chemical compound used to extract gold from ore – in the ground.
"Cyanide soil collapsed" at the site, Independent Mining Labour Union representative Basaran Aksu said.
"Good specialist equipment must be used by expert teams when responding to cyanide sites," he added.
"The work may take a very long time because of the cyanide field," which is reported to be one Turkey's largest.
Miners trapped underground in Turkish coal mine in 2022 - in pictures
The province lies on the northern bank of the Karasu river, a major tributary of the Euphrates, which runs from Turkey to Syria and Iraq.
Turkey's Environment Ministry said it had sealed off a stream that runs from the open pit to prevent contaminating the Euphrates.
Environmental activists and local officials tried to shut down the open pit mine after a cyanide leak in 2022.
The plant was shuttered for a few months but then reopened after its operator paid a fine, prompting an outcry from Turkey's opposition parties.
Anagold, a private company that runs the Ilic mine, said it was working to minimise the effects of this "painful" incident.
"We will mobilise all our means in order to urgently shed light on this incident," Anagold said in a statement.
Gold production at the site began in 2010, according to Turkish media reports.
Turkey is prone to deadly landslides and has suffered a string of mining accidents in recent decades.
A methane blast at a coal mine in the country's north-west killed 42 people in October 2022.
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1. Dubai silk road
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3. First virtual commercial city
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• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
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Men:
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New UK refugee system
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Liverpool 4 (Salah (pen 4, 33', & pen 88', Van Dijk (20')
Leeds United 3 (Harrison 12', Bamford 30', Klich 66')
Man of the match Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
What is 'Soft Power'?
Soft power was first mentioned in 1990 by former US Defence Secretary Joseph Nye.
He believed that there were alternative ways of cultivating support from other countries, instead of achieving goals using military strength.
Soft power is, at its root, the ability to convince other states to do what you want without force.
This is traditionally achieved by proving that you share morals and values.
