Nine people are trapped inside a gold mine in eastern Turkey after a landslide swept across an area the workers were believed to be in. Picture: Pexels
A landslide on Tuesday trapped at least nine workers at a gold mine in eastern Turkey, officials said, adding that search and rescue efforts were underway.
Images from the scene showed the landslide sweeping across a valley where the workers were believed to have been based at the time.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said there was no news from nine out of the mine's 667 employees, adding that 400 rescuers had been urgently dispatched to the scene.
"The governor and the company officials counted all the personnel and there was no news from nine workers," Yerlikaya told the state-run TRT television.
"We installed our (rescue) vehicles, our generators, and our night lighting equipment. We have only one wish: to be able to give good news to the families of these brothers."
The landslide occurred shortly after 2:00 pm (1100 GMT) near the Ilic district of Erzincan province.
Anagold, a private company that runs the mine, said it was working to minimise the effects of this "painful" incident.
"We will mobilise all our means in order to urgently shed light on this incident," Anagold said in a statement.
The gold production at the mine began in 2010, according to Turkish media reports.
Turkey is prone to deadly landslides and has suffered a string of mining accidents in recent decades.
A methane blast at a coal mine in northwestern Turkey killed 42 people in October 2022.
The Erzincan mine made headlines over a cyanide leak in 2022, which prompted officials to briefly shutter its operations.
It reopened after paying a fine, prompting an outcry from Turkey's opposition parties.
The province lies on the northern bank of the Karasu River -- a major tributary of the Euphrates.
The area was reportedly cleaned after the 2022 cyanide leak.
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