The death toll after an explosion in a coal mine in Turkey’s northern Bartin province on Friday (October 14) has reached 41, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday (October 15).
Visiting the site of the coal mine, where rescue teams had been working to pull out miners trapped underground, Erdogan said an investigation had been launched into the cause of the incident.
Earlier, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 58 of the 110 people working in the mine when the blast occurred were rescued by the teams or got out by themselves.
Authorities said initial indications for the cause of the blast appeared to be firedamp, a term referring to methane in coal mines. Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said a fire in the mine was largely contained but fire isolation and cooling efforts were continuing after the incident that took place 350 meters (0.2 miles) below ground.
In 2014, 301 workers were killed in Turkey’s worst-ever mining disaster in the western town of Soma, 350 kms (217 miles) south of Istanbul.
(Reuters)