Five officials with the company that operated the mine, which saw Turkey’s worst mining accident last week have been arrested on charges of death by negligence, reported the Anatolia news agency on Monday, citing prosecutors.
Operations manager Akin Celik, engineers Yalcin Erdogan and Ertan Ersoy, and security chief Yasin Kurnaz were arrested on Sunday.
Mr. Celik was one of the Soma Holding officials, who had taken part in a press conference about the accident on Friday.
“There was no negligence on our side,” he said two days before his arrest. “I have worked in mines for 20 years, and I have not witnessed such an incident.” The cause of Tuesday’s explosion and fire at the mine in the western town of Soma, which killed 301 people, has yet to be determined.
The arrests came after 25 people, including top Soma supervisors, were detained and questioned on Sunday about the accident.
Soma officials have said the mine was subjected to government safety inspections every six months. The last check in March reportedly showed no problems.
The government has denied any responsibility for the accident. In the wake of the disaster, protests began in multiple Turkish cities, with participants demanding the government step down.
