The death toll from an explosion in a coal mine in northwestern Turkey rises to 28
, while rescuers are trying to save dozens of workers still trapped underground.
According to Interior Minister Suleyman Soyl 15 workers are still trapped in the mine.
"We estimate that 15 of our miners are trapped there and we are trying to save them,"
said the minister who is at the site of one of the deadliest industrial accidents in Turkey in recent years.
"Our wish is that the loss of life is not greater and that our miners can be saved," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tweeted.
The explosion occurred in a mine in the city of Amasra, on the Black Sea, killing 28 workers and injuring another 28, of which 11 were hospitalized.
Rescue teams are working to rescue workers trapped in tunnels 300 and 350 meters below sea level.
According to Soylu, 49 of the 110 miners who were underground at the time of the explosion would have died.
"We are really facing a sad picture," said the minister, who rushed to the scene together with the energy minister, Fatih Donmez.
"
According to preliminary information, the explosion was caused by a grisou
(gas mixture consisting of methane, or other hydrocarbons that forms spontaneously in coal mines and in contact with the air it ignites and explodes)", he explained. Donmez.
Rescue teams tried to rescue dozens of workers trapped in tunnels on Friday evening.
Rescue and medical teams, as well as family members of the trapped miners, many of them with tears in their eyes, were visible in the first images broadcast by the Turkish media from the entrance to the mine.
The Turkish state disaster management agency Afad initially announced on Twitter that the cause of the explosion was a faulty transformer, but later retracted the statement.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit the mine today
.