At least 40 workers died in the coal mine explosion that took place on Friday 14 October in northwestern Turkey.
The new budget has been updated by the Minister of the Interior, Suleyman Soylu, who is at the scene of the disaster.
"We counted a total of 40 dead. 58 miners managed to escape," Soylu said, while Energy Minister Fatih Donmez tearfully declared that "we are nearing the end of the rescue operation."
According to Minister Suleyman Soyl, 15 workers are still trapped in the mine.
"We are trying to save them",
he added .
This is 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
.