On Tuesday there was an explosion in a coal mine in Manisa, Turkey.
HoundDog's earlier posts about the mining disaster:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...
The official death toll is now 285 with an unannounced number of miners - unofficially between 70 and 120 - still unaccounted for.
Today, in an unexpected development, almost all of the banks in Turkey have announced that they will erase the debts of the miners who were killed.
These banks also announced that if the miners who died had life insurance coverage on their debts, this is very common in Turkey, the money from the life insurance coverage would be given to the miners' families.
And these banks also announced that the repayment of any loans which had been made to businesses in the district would be postponed for six months without interest because the mining disaster will have a major effect on the economy in the district.
The families of the miners who died will recieve a monthly payment of about $500 from the Turkish Social Security System.
An interesting article in English:
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/...
Article in Turkish about today's protests, with video and photographs:
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/...