Bosnia: 4 miners killed in mining accident

SARAJEVO, Bosnia&Herzegovina

Four miners have been killed in a mine in northeastern Bosnia late Saturday, authorities said.

The bodies of four men were retrieved Sunday afternoon from the open pit mine of Dubrave, Ministry of Internal Affairs in Tuzla Canton spokesman Izudin Saric confirmed.

Miners collecting coal were buried under a landslide after a minor earthquake shook Tuzla canton in northeastern Bosnia caused a landslide at 10 p.m. Saturday night, leading to the deaths of Arif Alibasic, Edin Heric, Alem Dedic and Adel Sehic.

Almir Sehic, brother of victim Almir, told The Anadolu Agency that he was angry that teams had not started the rescue operation, he claims, right after the accident instead of waiting for investigators to come. 

"I still can not believe that this has happened, I hope that I'll wake up from this bad dream," said Almir. 

Alen Hasanovic, one of miners who works in Dubrave, ran to the site after hearing about accident.

"I came immediately because they are my neighbors. Every time we come here we put our lives at risk," Hasanovic said. 

Locals claim an accident was inevitable because the equipment in the mine, they say, was old and defective.