Nine miners are still trapped since Tuesday February 13 under a pile of earth from a gold mine in eastern Turkey. NGOs called on Wednesday for the closure of the mine which could be the cause of major pollution of the Euphrates, the great river which crosses Turkey, Syria and Iraq.
According to them, the earth could contain significant quantities of cyanide, a chemical compound commonly used to extract gold, but extremely toxic by inhalation and very flammable. In 2022, this mine had already made headlines after a cyanide leak, prompting authorities to briefly suspend its operations.