ISTANBUL (AP) — A huge landslide hit a gold mine in eastern Turkey on Tuesday, trapping at least nine workers underground, officials said.
The landslide at the Copler mine happened at 2:30 p.m. near the town of Ilic in Turkey’s mountainous Erzincan province. Footage seemingly shot by a nearby worker showed a massive wave of earth rushing down a gully, engulfing everything in its path.
Nine workers had not been heard from since the landslide struck and “it is thought that they are buried under the ground,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
The landslide involved a mound of soil extracted from the mine, Yerlikaya told urkey’s state-run TRT News.