Six Georgian miners died and at least three were injured when the tunnel in which they were working collapsed on April 5.

The Mindeli coal mine, located near the town of Tkibuli in the region of Imereti some 200 kilometres west of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, is operated by Sakhakhshiri, a Georgian company. The mine operator claims that the accident was caused by a shock effect triggered by a rock burst, a spontaneous rock fracture that is a common occurrence in mines.

The incident comes after another miner died in a different mine in the Imereti region on March 26, and amidst a flurry of criticism levelled at mining companies for not abiding by environmental and worker safety standards.

On April 3, Agriculture and Environment Minister Levan Davitashvili criticised Rich Metals Group (RMG), a company registered in the Netherlands that operates a large gold and copper mining operation in Georgia, for polluting three rivers adjacent to its mine. The minister said that the government gave the company, which has invested $300mn in Georgia and employs 3,000 workers, nine months to stop releasing pollutants into the rivers.

After the death of the miner in Imereti region, 50 of his co-workers protested against their employer, the Georgian Manganesi Company, demanding better working conditions.

The interior ministry has launched a criminal investigation against Sakhakhshiri, Georgiatoday has reported. Those found responsible for violating safety regulations risk up to five years of imprisonment.

Politicians like President Giorgi Margvelashvili and Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze called for stricter safety rules and an improvement in labour standards in Georgia’s mining industry.

In a public statement, Margvelashvili said that "this disaster proves that the situation of labour safety is hard and unacceptable. It is impossible for the state and society to put up with this situation in the workplaces.” In his speech, Kobakhidze seconded those statements, saying: "Very stringent measures need to be taken in order to prevent such tragic accidents in the future".