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15 July, 2005
Two life-taking industrial accidents over the past two weeks can be blamed on unsafe work practices of contract labour. On 9 September inside a copper mine near Kure, northern Turkey, a gas leak was ignited by a welding torch that killed 19 workers and injured scores of others.
The mine had been privatized in February 2004 by Turkish state mining enterprise Etibank, which then shifted all work to Turkish construction firm STFA. Family members of those killed and injured by the torrid fire said many miners lacked oxygen masks and other safety equipment. (The other fatalities occurred at a Sasol chemical plant in South Africa: See Recent Blast at Sasol in South Africa Kills Seven.)