9 workers dead, no commission report yet: 1 year has passed since the İliç disaster

A year has passed since the landslide disaster at the gold mine in the İliç district of Erzincan, which occurred on February 13, 2024. In the disaster, where 9 workers lost their lives, the bodies of the workers were searched for for weeks. 

Within the scope of the investigation initiated by the İliç Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding the incident, the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), and scientists from various universities also conducted water and soil analyses to investigate the environmental impacts of the landslide.

The expert committee that conducted examinations at the mine site prepared a preliminary report on February 17. In the report, 5 people were found to be primarily at fault. "Crack photos" taken by miners on the morning of the day the landslide occurred were also included as evidence in the expert report.

In order to conduct research on the subject, the Parliamentary İliç Mine Accident Investigation Commission was established with the joint decision of all parties with a group in the Parliament, and the commission began its work in Erzincan on May 7 and reported on the incident in all its dimensions.

The expert committee regarding the landslide at the mine site also completed its work in May and submitted the report to the prosecutor's office. The report stated that the project management mechanism was not maintained in a correct and functional manner, and that the warning system in the mining area was also insufficient. In the report, 13 people, including the company's executives and engineers, were also found to be primarily at fault.

In November, an expert report covering the environmental impact assessment (EIA) regarding the landslide was prepared. In the new expert report prepared as a result of the evaluations of a committee consisting of environmental, civil, geological, and mining engineers from Istanbul Technical, Hacettepe, Yıldız Technical, and Gazi universities, the expression "It has been concluded that the officials of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change who approved or signed the EIA report are faultless" was used.

Furthermore, the İliç Chief Public Prosecutor's Office decided that there was "no ground for prosecution" regarding the public officials who had approvals and signatures on the EIA reports in the investigation into the landslide.

On December 18, 2024, an indictment was prepared and submitted to the court against 43 suspects, 5 of whom were under arrest, for the crimes of "causing death and injury by negligence" and "polluting the environment by negligence" regarding the landslide.

In the 69-page indictment prepared for the detained suspects and 38 suspects who are not under arrest, it was requested that all suspects be sentenced to imprisonment from 2 to 15 years each for the crime of "causing death and injury by negligence".

For the suspects, the Canadian manager of the company that operated the gold mine at the time, I.R.G., as well as C.Y.D. and K.Ö., a judicial fine or, if it leaves a permanent effect on the soil, water, or air, a prison sentence of 2 months to 1 year was also requested for the crime of "polluting the environment by negligence".

According to the expert report in the indictment, it was concluded that 12 of the 43 suspects were primarily at fault due to reasons such as "the project not being managed correctly in general, risks not being identified, an emergency management plan not being created, and communication and coordination not being sufficiently provided." The indictment included the following statements: "It has been understood that the project management mechanism was not established in a correct and functional manner in the occurrence of the incident, that a capacity increase was made as Phase 4B and there were design errors in the prepared projects, that the project design criteria were not followed sufficiently during the operation phase, and that the potential damage risks of the blasting carried out using high amounts of explosives at close distances to the heap leach during the construction of Phase 5 to the heap leach were not determined."

Following the acceptance of the indictment by the Erzincan 1st High Criminal Court on January 3, the trial of the 43 defendants will begin on March 17.

On the other hand, the bodies of one of the missing workers were reached on April 5, another on April 19, two on May 4, and five on June 10, 2024.