![Search and rescue team along with security forces conduct a rescue operation on the debris after an illegal coal mine collapsed in Sirnak, Turkey on 17 October, 2017 [Ekrem Payan/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/2017_10_17-Search-and-rescue-team-in-Turkey20171017_2_26333985_26889673-.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1)
Six miners were killed and another was wounded after part of a coal mine in Turkey’s southeastern province of Sirnak collapsed today, Turkey’s AFAD aid agency said.
AFAD said search and rescue teams were looking for another worker who was trapped at the site.
Turkey’s energy ministry said the coal mine was unlicensed and had been operating illegally.
“The activities of the mining field in Sirnak, where the accident took place, were stopped by the General Directorate of Mining Affairs in 2013 because it carried operational and security risks,” the energy ministry said.
Turkey has seen a construction boom and a scramble to meet soaring energy and commodities demand.
Its worst ever mining disaster took place in May 2014 in the western town of Soma, where 301 workers were killed.