Disaster at Soma, Turkey: Desperate Search at Coal Mine

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    This is probably one of the worst mining disasters in Turkey in decades. At this mining, town some 75 miles northeast of the Aegean port of Izmir, a fire began on Tuesday after a transformer blew up during a shift change.  Rescuers in Soma worked hard on Wednesday to reach coal miners who were trapped underground.

    Although there has been an extensive rescue operation, officials say at least 238 miners were killed during the explosion and the fire afterwards. They believe a power unit blew up 2 km ( 1.2 miles ) underground and it shut down all electricity supplies and the ventilation. As MTS Logistics, we are extremely saddened by this disaster and would like to extend our prayers and deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those involved in the tragedy.

    A senior official said hopes of finding survivors are fading as they believe hundreds of other workers are still trapped . We as MTS hope that those who are trapped or injured receive urgent help, remedy and care.

    The energy minister, Taner Yildiz told the reporters that they are worried that this death toll will rise as fires are hampering rescue efforts. The Prime minister  offered his condolences to the families of those who died and said there’s “a sadness shared by the whole population of our country.” He has declared three days of national mourning.

    Since 1992, the death toll of 238 by mid-afternoon on Wednesday is the highest in a mining disaster at a mine near Zonguldak on the Black Sea when 263 workers died in a gas explosion.

    We truly hope that this will be the last mining disaster we have to hear about and people have to experience.

    Once again, we offer our deepest condolences to the families suffering due to this tragedy.

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    Lora Altin Ozbilir
    Lora was born and raised in Turkey. After graduating from Notre Dame De Sion in Istanbul, she got her bachelor degree in Labor Economics & Industrial Relations from University of Marmara. In 1997, she came to New Jersey to continue her education at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Her last stop was in New York at Parsons The new School of Design. She speaks Turkish, French, English, Armenian fluently. She has been living in New York since 1999. Lora’s background is in active sales for the international freight forwarding industry. She is Vice President of Sales and Marketing at MTS Logistics Inc and has been with MTS for almost 11 years. Fun Fact: Lora was a professional swimmer, and competed at the highest level in Istanbul.