Rescuers yesterday searched for the last miner missing at a coal mine in northern Turkey, where a methane blast the previous day killed at least 40 people in one of the country’s worst industrial accidents in years.
The blast ripped through the mine near the small coal mining town of Amasra on Turkey’s Black Sea coast shortly before sunset on Friday.
“We are approaching the end of the rescue operation,” Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez said tearfully at the scene yesterday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The search continues for the sole person whose fate is unknown,” he said, adding that the fire that had broken out in the tunnels following the blast was now mostly under control.
“We have counted 40 dead in total. 58 miners were able to be rescued, either by themselves or thanks to rescuers,” Turkish Minister of the Interior Suleyman Soylu said.
He said 28 people had been injured as a result of the blast.
Soylu had said earlier that about 110 people had been underground at the time of the explosion.
A miner who works the day shift said he saw the news and hurried to the site to help with the rescue.
“We saw a frightful scene, it cannot be described, it’s very sad,” 40-year-old Celal Kara said.
“They’re all my friends... they all had dreams,” the miner of 14 years said after exiting the mine, his face covered in soot.
Television images late on Friday showed anxious crowds — some with tears in their eyes — congregating around a damaged white building near the entrance to the pit in search of news of their friends and loved ones.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was due to fly to the scene of the accident yesterday, wrote on Twitter that the incident would be thoroughly investigated.
Most initial information about those trapped inside was coming from workers who had managed to climb out relatively unharmed, but Amasra Mayor Recai Cakir said many of those who survived had “serious injuries.”
Turkey’s Maden-Is mining workers’ union attributed the blast to a buildup of methane gas.
However, other officials said it was premature to draw definitive conclusions over the cause of the accident.
Rescuers sent in reinforcements from surrounding villages to help in the search and rescue.
Television footage showed paramedics giving oxygen to the miners who had climbed out, then rushing them to the nearest hospitals.
The local governor said a team of more than 70 rescuers had managed to reach a point in the pit about 250m below ground.
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) service said the initial spark that caused the blast appeared to have come from a malfunctioning transformer.
It later withdrew that report and said methane gas had ignited due to “unknown reasons.”
The local public prosecutor’s office said it was treating the incident as an accident and launching a formal investigation.
Additional reporting by AP
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