Tragedy in northern Turkey: an explosion killed 14 workers, injuring 28. At the moment others are stuck inside. The causes of Friday’s explosion in the Amasra state mine in the coastal Black Sea province of Bartin are being investigated.
The mayor of Amasra said there were 87 people inside the mine at the time of the explosion. There are conflicting reports on the number of people still trapped. Unfortunately this is not the first time: the worst disaster due to a mine accident in 2014 was inside a coal mine in the city of Soma, in western Turkey, where 301 people died in a fire.
Turkey’s disaster management agency Afad said several rescue teams were dispatched to the area, including from neighboring provinces. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced the two victims on Twitter. He said 20 other people were injured but did not provide information on their condition. the budget was then updated at around 22 Italian time: The Turkish Minister of the Interior declared the new toll of 14 dead and 28 injured. Amasra mayor Recai Cakir told Haber Turk television that 87 workers were inside the mine at the time of the explosion. There have been conflicting reports on the number of people still trapped.
Bartin region governor Nurtac Arslan said 49 workers were waiting to be brought to the surface, while the Maden-Is mining union reported 35 people still trapped. Earlier, Mayor Cakir said at least six of the workers were lying “motionless” inside the mine, according to information received. The private Dha news agency quoted a worker who told Governor Arslan that he had come out of the mine by his own forces. He described feeling “pressure” but said he couldn’t see anything due to the dust and dirt.
According to reports from Haber Turk, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fathi Donmez, the Minister of the Interior Suleyman Soylu went to the scene of the accident on the instruction of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Around 450 workers work in the mine over three shifts. According to reports from local sources to the Turkish media, the emergency lifts are in operation regularly. On the causes of the explosion, yet to be ascertained, the president of the Chamber of Mining Engineers, Ayhan Yuksel, argues that the accident could have been caused by the gas grisù (an odorless and colorless fuel, consisting mainly of methane and other gases: nitrogen, carbon dioxide and ethane).
“There are people we managed to evacuate from that area. There are people we have not been able to evacuate from that area, ”Interior Minister Soylu told reporters present at the site of the explosion. There are no fires going on inside the mine and the ventilation is working properly, Energy Minister Donmez said, adding that there have been partial collapses inside the mine. The explosion occurred 300 meters below the mine entrance at around 4.15pm London time, Bartin Governor’s Office said. Footage broadcast on Turkish television showed those who, according to the television, were the miners’ family members watching aloof as health and rescue workers crowded around the mine entrance. Some miners were taken out and carried by ambulance on stretchers, as the footage shows. Bartin’s prosecutor’s office said it had initiated an investigation into the cause of the explosion.