The Defense Ministry announced that 12 soldiers died on July 6 from methane gas during a search of a cave previously used as a hospital by the PKK in northern Iraq.
Opposition parties called for a parliamentary commission to investigate whether the necessary precautions, including the use of gas masks and detectors, were taken when the soldiers entered the cave, but this proposal was rejected by AKP and MHP votes.
CHP Kocaeli MP Nail Çiler submitted a parliamentary question: “Has the risk of methane gas been reported in the region and in the area where the operation will take place? If so, what assessment reports have been prepared? Has adequate environmental safety screening been carried out with gas measurement devices in the cave before the operation? If not, what
actions have been taken against those concerned?”
Also, Turhan Çömez, İYİ Parti Balıkesir MP, asked Defense Minister Yaşar Güler: “If it was known that there was methane gas in the cave, did the soldiers have gas masks? Why didn't you send some soldiers with gas detectors to the cave as scouts? Was there a chemical trap because it was known in advance that the soldiers would be searching the cave?”
‘CAVE UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE TSK’
The Center for Combating Disinformation of the Presidential Communications Directorate said: “Since this cave has been under the control of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) for two years, it is out of the question for terrorists to make chemical traps. The claim that the affected personnel were taken into the cave at the same time is also not true.”
METHANE OR CARBON MONOXIDE?
The fact that none of the dead soldiers were specially trained commandos raised the question of whether the team assigned to search the cave was competent to do so. After the incident, the rescue work in the cave was carried out by a mining rescue team called in from Zonguldak. Sözcü's Saygı Öztürk reported that according to the measurements made by this rescue team, the soldiers were affected by carbon monoxide, which indicates a fire, and if there's a fire, there would be no methane gas.
INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED
The Defense Ministry said that the cave was entered to find the body of a soldier who was killed during an operation in 2022, and Minister Yaşar Güler announced that an administrative investigation into the incident has also been launched.
MINISTRY UPDATES INFORMATION
Additional information on the incident was shared at the Defense Ministry's weekly press conference on July 10.
The statement has confirmed that 12 soldiers died after exposure to methane and carbon monoxide during a search-and-rescue operation in a cave in northern Iraq’s Metina region, calling it “an exceptional, unforeseeable and extraordinary event.”
The ministry said that the team did not enter the cave en masse, but in three groups of 6+4+2, and that five more soldiers entered the cave after a call for help came from inside.
The information on which gas the soldiers were affected by was also updated: “Carbon monoxide, methane and hydrogen sulfide gases were found in the cave during the measurements made by the expert teams, and oxygen was pumped into the cave with fans after it was determined that the oxygen ratio dropped to 19 percent,” the ministry spokesperson said.
