Eight workers still missing in Adana

ADANA-Doğan News Agency

Eight workers were swept away in floods caused by a dam rupture on Feb 24. AA photo

Search and rescue efforts are still underway to locate eight missing workers who were swept away in floods caused by the Feb. 24 rupture of a dam under construction in the southern province of Adana.

The brother of one of the missing workers has raised a claim that dynamite was used to blow apart rocks located in front of the dam wall only an hour before the dam shutter burst, which led to the accident in Adana’s Kozan province.

“The workers dispatched to the area after the rocks were blown up with dynamite were then asked to do arrangement and cleaning work. While [they] were working there, the dam shutter burst, and the workers were swept up by the waters. We believe the dam shutter may have burst due to the use of dynamite in front of the dam wall,” said Furkan Yeğen, 26, brother of missing worker Erkan Yeğen.

The workers were brought to the area with engineering vehicles after the rocks were blown apart, according to Furkan Yeğen.

Meanwile, the funeral ceremony for two workers who died in the incident, Eyüp Altuntaş and Cumali Değirmenci, was held Feb. 26. Rescue teams had found their bodies the morning of Feb. 25 while they were searching for the workers who went missing in the accident at the dam, which was being built over the Göksu River.

“There are even photographs of the cracks [in the dam.] It is all out there. How could they keep working by sealing [the cracks] with sandbags?” said Yüksel Altuntaş, brother of deceased worker Eyüp Altuntaş.

Adana Gov. Avni Coş said to Yüksel Altuntaş during the funeral ceremony, “The prosecutors have taken up the [case]. The relevant procedures will be followed. If you were in possession of such information, then why did you not tell us before? We would have intervened and taken measures.”