Turkish media sources revealed that around 100 Syrians, who were displaced from Syria, were killed in Soma mine disaster, the worst in Turkey’s history as it claimed the lives of more than 300 miners.
Asya news agency quoted journalist Ali Tezel, who works for Haber Turk TV channel, as saying that 100 Syrians working illegally were left underground as the rescue teams took out the bodies of the Turkish miners only.
Tezel added the rescue workers covered the bodies of the Syrians under coal water inside the mine to erase any sign of them.
Turkish authorities have not made any reference to the dead Syrian miners, leaving their bodies buried under debris, in an explosion that has stirred outrage against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government over negligence of the workers’ safety and indifference to their fate.
Angry protesters who took to the streets have been met with tear gas and rubber bullets by the Turkish police.
An evidence of the Turkish authorities attempting to conceal any trace of the Syrian miners was made evident through them refusing the participation of European rescue teams.
Sources stressed that the total number of the Syrians working in the mine was 450, most of them have been working illegally and unregistered in social security.
The statements provide new evidence on the mistreatment and negligence the displaced Syrians are subjected to under Erdogan’s government. Media reports showing how those are being treated as slaves with the women forced into prostitution and the children pushed to work under inappropriate conditions.
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