Baku-APA. Rescuers pulled more dead and injured from a coal mine in western Turkey on Wednesday more than 12 hours after a deadly explosion, bringing the death toll to 274 in the nation's worst mining disaster in decades, APA reports quoting Today’s Zaman.
Hundreds more were still believed to be trapped in the mine in Soma, around 120 kilometers northeast of the Aegean coastal city of Ä°zmir. The explosion, which triggered a fire, occurred shortly after 3:00 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Tuesday.
Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said 787 people were inside the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers south of İstanbul, at the time of the accident and 363 of them had been rescued so far.
At least 80 miners were injured, including four who were in serious condition, Yıldız told reporters in Soma, as he oversaw the rescue operation involving more than 400 rescuers.
***
Baku-APA. Women wailed uncontrollably, men knelt sobbing and others just stared in disbelief outside a coal mine in western Turkey as rescue workers removed a steady stream of bodies Wednesday from an underground explosion and fire that killed at least 245 workers. The fate of an estimated 120 miners remained unclear in one of Turkey's worst mining disasters, APA reports quoting Today’s Zaman. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan postponed a foreign trip and visited the mine in Soma, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul. The deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said.
Erdoğan said the incident would be investigated to its "smallest detail" and "no negligence will be ignored." He discussed rescue operations with authorities, walked near the entrance of the mine and also comforted two crying women. Earlier, Erdoğan declared three days of national mourning, ordering flags to be lowered to half-staff. Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said 787 people were inside the coal mine in Soma at the time of Tuesday's explosion and 363 of them had been rescued. Scores were injured, Yıldız told reporters in Soma, where he was overseeing operations by more than 400 rescuers.
The last worker rescued alive emerged from the mine around dawn, a government official said on condition of anonymity because she didn't have prior authorization to speak publicly to journalists about the issue. As of 3:30 p.m., it had been about 10 hours since anyone had been brought out alive.
"Regarding the rescue operation, I can say that our hopes are diminishing," Yıldız said before Erdoğan's visit. Erdoğan said there were an estimated 120 workers still inside the mine.
"Our hope is that, God willing, they will be brought out," he said. "That is what we are waiting for."
Tensions were high as hundreds of relatives and miners stood outside the mine. The crowd shouted at officials, including when Yıldız passed by, and some wailed each time a body was brought up. A heavy police presence was in place around the mine.
The explosion tore through the mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, officials said, which likely raised the casualty toll because there were more miners inside than usual. Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which is plagued by poor safety conditions. Turkey's worst mining disaster was a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.
In Istanbul, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the headquarters of the company which owns the mine, Soma Holding. In the capital, Ankara, police dispersed a group who tried to march to the energy ministry to protest the deaths, the Dogan news agency reported.
ErdoÄŸan warned that some radical groups would try to use the disaster to discredit the government.
Turkey's Labor and Social Security Ministry said the mine had been inspected five times since 2012, including in March of 2014, and that no issues violating work safety and security were detected. The country's main opposition party said ErdoÄŸan's ruling party had recently voted down a proposal for the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry into a series of small-scale accidents at mines around Soma. Rescue workers emerged at a slow pace from the mine with stretchers carrying bodies, which were covered in blankets. The corpses' faces were blackened like the coal.
One man, who declined to be named, said he had led a 10-man team about a kilometer (half-mile), or halfway, down the mine into the tunnels and had recovered three bodies. But the men had to flee because of smoke from coal that had been lit by the explosion, he said. Another man walked down the stairs from the mine's entrance weeping, with a look of dejection. Behind him, two groups bearing heavy stretchers pushed through the crowd like caterpillars.
As bodies were brought out on stretchers, rescue workers pulled blankets back from the faces of the dead to give jostling crowds of anxious family members a chance to identify victims. One elderly man wearing a prayer cap wailed after he recognized one of the dead, and police restrained him from climbing into an ambulance with the body.
An injured rescue worker who emerged alive was whisked away on a stretcher to the cheers of onlookers. Yıldız said rescue operations were hindered because the mine hadn't been cleared of gas. Authorities say the disaster followed an explosion and fire caused by a power distribution unit.
Yıldız said earlier that some of the workers were 420 meters (460 yards) deep inside the mine. News reports said the workers couldn't use elevators to escape because the explosion had cut off power. Overnight, people cheered and applauded as some trapped workers emerged. But others were consumed by grief.
Emine GülÅŸen, part of a group of women who sat wailing near the entrance to the mine, chanted, "My son is gone, my Mehmet." Her son, Mehmet GülÅŸen, 31, has been working in the mine for five years. Mehmet GülÅŸen's aunt, Makbule DaÄŸ, held out hope. "Inshallah" (God willing), she said.
Police set up fences and stood guard around Soma state hospital to keep the crowds away.
SOMA Kömür Ä°ÅŸletmeleri A.Åž., which owns the mine, said the accident occurred despite the "highest safety measures and constant controls" and added that an investigation was being launched.
"Our main priority is to get our workers out so that they may be reunited with their loved ones," the company said in a statement.
Follow us on Telegram
t.me/apanewsaz
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on TikTok
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on X
PHOTO - 
