A miner was found dead inside a gallery in Bulqiza, north of Albania, five days after search teams had started rescue operations.
On Sunday night, his colleagues found the body of Muharrem Plaku, 60, under debris where he was working five days ago.
The miner was caught under a collapsing mass of rocks on September 15, while the lengthy search was due to the difficult terrain, according to authorities.
The chrome mine gallery was operated by Kaduretex, one of the many private companies operating the mine.
Prosecutors are investigating the death. Deputy minister of energy Ilir Bejtja blamed the miners for working in the wrong area: “They went to mine in an area where they shouldn’t mine,” he said.
Deaths, injuries and accidents in the Bulqiza mines are frequent and often not reported when no miner dies. Private companies operating the mines are nevertheless rarely, if ever, held accountable for security standards by the government or by the justice system for accidents.
In 2020 only, 5 miners died at work and 28 others were injured.
Private companies and the government usually blame miners for being careless or exceeding the area they are requested to mine in.
