In Turkey, dozens dead after an explosion in a mine

TURKEY – The toll continues to grow, and it is terrible. This Saturday, October 15, the Minister Turkish of the Interior Süleyman Soylu announced that at least 40 miners had died following a firedamp strike in a coal mine in the northwest of the country.

Alongside him in tears, Energy Minister Fatih Donmez added: “we are nearing the end of the relief operations “. And this while families have been waiting, worried, around the mine since the news of the explosion spread late Friday afternoon.

” 58 of our miners were able to escape unscathed. We estimate that 15 miners are (trapped) downstairs and we are trying to rescue them “, had indicated in a previous report Süleyman Soylu, without it being known whether some of the 40 dead announced later are these famous miners stuck in the galleries. Dozens of injured were also transported to various hospitals, as far as Istanbul. The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan should visit some of them before heading to the mine site in the afternoon.

“Our wish is that the loss of human life is not higher and that our miners can be saved”President Erdogan wished on Friday evening.

Endless wait

Regarding the circumstances of the tragedy, according to Fatih Dönmez, “ a fire broke out in one of the galleries after the explosion “. ” Our first observations indicate that some of our friends (miners) lost their lives due to the high pressure and the heat caused by the explosion “, further explained the Minister of Energy.

Since Friday evening, the relatives of the injured miners, consumed with anguish and many in tears, have been waiting for news at the entrance to the mine surmounted by thick gray smoke, noted an AFP photographer. In front of the shaft entrance, ambulances are lined up and waiting to take care of any injured people who will be brought up. A woman in shock had to be evacuated by the emergency services, others pray leaning on the barriers that enclose the scene.

The miners themselves take part in the rescue: “ We brought up the bodies of our comrades, it’s horrible for us “said one of them, interviewed by the private Turkish channel NTV. The damaged galleries are located 300 and 350 meters below sea level. More than 110 miners were there at the time of the explosion.

Seriously injured evacuated

Afad, Turkey’s state-run disaster management body, initially tweeted that a faulty transformer was the cause of the blast, before recanting and explaining that methane had ignited for some “ unknown reasons “. ” I do not know what happened “, told the Anadolu news agency one of the first miners to have been able to come out unscathed from the galleries by his own means. ” There was a sudden pressure and I couldn’t see anything “, he said.

Omer Urer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

After the explosion, the families of the missing rushed to the edge of the mine in the hope of seeing the relief manage to bring up some of the miners.

As the explosion occurred shortly before sunset, rescue operations were slowed by the darkness. ” Nearly half of the workers were able to be evacuated. Most of them are fine, but there are also serious injuries Amasra Mayor Recai Cakir told NTV. According to the local governor, a team of more than 70 people managed to reach a point in the well located some 250 meters deep. It is unclear whether rescuers can get closer to trapped workers.

An accident investigation has been opened by the local prosecutor’s office.

Accidents at work are frequent in Turkey, where the strong economic development of the past decade has often come at the expense of safety rules, particularly in construction and mining.

The country was brutally aware of this during an accident in 2014 in Soma, in the west of the country, when 301 miners had been killed in a coal mine, after an explosion and a fire caused the collapse of a shaft. Sentences of up to 22 years’ imprisonment and six months had been handed down by the Turkish courts against five mine officials, found guilty of negligence.

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