At least 41 dead in a coal mine explosion in Turkey

At least 41 people have been killed in an explosion on Friday night at a coal mine in Amasra, in the Bartin province of northern Turkey.

Some 110 miners were in the area at the time of the explosion;

almost half of them, more than 300 meters deep, according to local authorities.

Dozens of people who were trapped have already been rescued or have managed to get out by their own means while the search continues in the shaft to find miners still imprisoned, as at least one worker is known to be missing.

"Despite the fire, the rescue teams managed, with great sacrifice, to get another 40 miners out," confirmed the head of the Interior, Süleyman Soylu, at a press conference along with two other ministers who traveled to the scene of the incident.

The minister stated that the whereabouts of one person are unknown.

"Eleven injured are still admitted, of which one is serious and four in intensive care," said the head of Health, Fahrettin Koca.

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Photo gallery: The rescue work at the Amasra mine

The collapse of the mine occurred on Friday afternoon due to an explosion of firedamp (gas that is trapped in the mineral strip), according to Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez.

"There are several partial landslides," Dönmez explained.

The explosion caused a fire inside the mine, which lasted for hours.

"We do not know anything.

There was dust and smoke, we couldn't see what happened.

I got out on my own.

Those of us who were a little far away only felt the pressure of the explosion, but we couldn't see anything," a miner who managed to get out of the shaft before the rescue teams arrived told NTV.

General view of the mine during the search and rescue operation. MEHMET CALISKAN (REUTERS)

The explosion occurred about 300 meters underground, a depth level under which about 50 miners were.

Dozens of troops from AFAD [Turkey's emergency and disaster agency] and other civil protection bodies were moved to the well to participate in the difficult rescue tasks.

“Inside, the situation is terrible, we can only get to a certain place.

We have rescued some colleagues and we have brought them,” explained a rescuer quoted by the local press.

Outside, dozens of relatives and colleagues had gathered at the entrance to the mine in an anguished wait that lasted all night.

“12 hours have passed, but it feels like 12 years.

I cannot bear to step on this ground, because there are buried lives and I cannot do anything for them”, explained a colleague of a miner quoted by the digital newspaper

“Three grandchildren, three of my grandchildren are inside!

Rescue my creatures!” cried an old woman interviewed by the

Next to her, and in a state of

another woman asked for news of her husband: “I have left my three children at home, help us!

We don't know anything, they don't tell us anything.

We're going to die!".

Turkey regularly suffers from serious accidents in coal mines, which unions blame on poor work safety measures in a sector where companies routinely ignore and flout regulations.

Since 2010, more than a thousand people have died in mining accidents.

The biggest disaster occurred in May 2014 at a well in Soma, in the western province of Manisa, when 301 workers were killed by a fire caused by an electrical explosion.

In this case there are also allegations of malpractice by the company that directs the operation, the public body TTK.

Opposition deputy Deniz Yavuzyilmaz has published on Twitter the page of a report by the Court of Accounts that warned that the shafts of the Amasra mine had reached 300 meters,

A family member cries outside the mine this Saturday. Khalil Hamra (AP)

The Turkish authorities have stated that this report has been taken out of context and that four inspectors have been sent, by order of the Prosecutor's Office, to investigate the reasons for the accident.

The General Directorate of Security has also announced that investigations have been launched against 12 social network users who, in connection with the accident, had published content that the Government considers to disturb social peace.

The Communications Directorate of the Turkish presidency has requested that only information from official bodies be shared.

For its part, the European Union expressed its condolences on Saturday for the "tragic loss of life" in the coal mine accident.

"My condolences are with the families who have lost their loved ones and with the entire community that comes together in this moment of pain," the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, posted on his Twitter profile.

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