At least 22 people have died in a massive explosion at a coal mine in northern Turkey. Another 17 people were injured, eight of whom are in critical condition, Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Friday evening after the coal mine in the north-eastern Black Sea port of Amasra partially collapsed.
The mine is located about 300 kilometers northeast of the capital Ankara. According to the Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, 110 workers were in the mine at the time of the accident, 49 of them in a more vulnerable deeper part. 44 miners were trapped 300 meters underground and another five at a depth of 350 meters. Eight workers found their way to the surface under their own steam.
The rescue was complicated because of the darkness
The cause of the accident is still unclear. However, it is assumed that a defective transformer triggered the explosion, according to Afad, the authority responsible for disasters. The explosion in the mine of the state company Turkish Hard Coal Enterprises occurred at a depth of 300 meters. Local prosecutors said the incident was being treated as an accident and has launched an official investigation.
TV reports showed people being carried to ambulances. More than 70 rescue workers are said to have penetrated up to 250 meters deep into the pit.
There have been several serious mine accidents in Turkey in recent years, partly due to poor safety regulations. In 2014, an explosion at a coal mine in Manisa province in the Aegean region killed a total of 301 people.