UPDATED: Georgian government decides to close deadly Mindeli mine
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Prime Minister of Georgia Mamuka Bakhtadze has announced the closure of Mindeli coal mine where four died and six injured as a result of a methane explosion earlier this morning.
"I express my wholehearted condolences to the families of the victims in this difficult moment. The state can not allow the vulnerability of health and life of its citizens. Accordingly, we have taken the decision to close the Mindeli mine,” PM Bakhtadze said, adding that the case is being investigated and everyone responsible will be held accountable.
The mine will be closed until the investigation is over.
The employees of the mine will be given their monthly salary during the time the mine will be closed.
Earlier: 12:01
Four miners have died and six have received heavy injuries as a result of a methane explosion in Mindeli coal mine in Tkibuli this morning.
The MIA suggested the methane explosion caused a deformation in the walls inside the mine resulting in a ceiling collapse.
Three of six injured are currently being transported to Tbilisi since they need to be treated in a profiled clinic, according to the Ministry of Health and Labor.
"Mindeli mine has to be closed until modern standards of labor safety have been guaranteed,” one of the leaders of the parliamentary majority, Archil Talakvadze, said today.
The deputy ministers of Economy Giorgi Cherkezishvili and Genadi Arveladze have headed to Tkibuli with an emergency group and the head of the Technical and Construction Supervision Agency.
In April this year, another six people died and three were injured in Mindeli mine which is owned by Saknakhshiri, a daughter company of Georgian Industrial Group (GIG).
Two miners have died at an open extraction coal quarry in Tkibuli town this morning. The bodies are already being examined to identify the circumstances of death.
Georgian national flags are flying at half-mast today at all government buildings across the country. The government of Georgia declared April 6 as a mourning day after an accident in a mine in west Georgia claiming six lives and injuring three.
The government of Georgia has declared April 6 as a mourning day after an accident in a mine in west Georgia claiming six lives and injuring three.One of the three mine workers injured in today’s accident has told Georgian Economy Minister Dimitri Kumsishvili that he has never witnessed anything of the sort before - he said that the reason behind the accident early this morning was a coal mine bump.
A miner died last night during underground works in Shukruti mine in the village of Chiatura - a city in the western Georgian region of Imereti.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has declared July 16 a day of national mourning as four miners died and six others received severe injuries as a result of a methane explosion earlier this morning in Mindeli Mine of Tkbileuli region of western Georgia.
The Georgian Industrial Group (GIG), the largest industrial holding in Georgia owning Saknakhshiri coal mining company, is ready to gift the company to the state in the wake of today’s fatal incident in the Tkibuli Mindeli Mine, which claimed the lives of four miners and left six others with severe injuries.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has responded to the offer of the Georgian Industrial Group (GIG) regarding Tkibuli mines in western Georgia, as the holding is ready to gift the company operating the mines to the state.
Seven individuals who have been detained as a result of the tragedy in the Tkibuli Mindeli mine on April 5 this year have been officially charged, announces Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The German DMT Group will study the labour conditions in Georgian mines located in Tkibuli, western Georgia in the wake of a deadly blast earlier this year claiming the lives of four miners and leaving another six injured.
Miners to continue receiving wages
A technical study inspecting the safety norms of mines in Georgia has been launched, the results of which will be announced in December 2018, says the Economy Minister Giorgi Kobulia.
Up to 30 miners went to the mine in Georgia’s western Tkibuli municipality and have plans to stay there until their employer gives them and others their salaries and the government decides on the fate of mines.