Baku-APA. Hopes were fading Wednesday of finding alive any of 18 Turkish coal miners trapped when their shaft was engulfed by water, as rescue workers made last-ditch efforts to find survivors, APA reports quoting AFP.
The accident in southern Turkey was the latest to hit the country's disaster-prone mining industry after 301 workers were killed in a coal mine explosion in May.
Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said divers had entered the flooded mine in the province of Karaman but visibility was poor and they were unable to go more than a few metres deep for their own safety.
"Every moment that goes by is bad for our (trapped) workers. Time is working against us. With every passing minute, our hopes are reduced," he said in comments broadcast by Turkish television.
He said an estimated 10-12 tonnes of water had filled the shaft at the privately-owned mine in the village of Pamuklu.
In a poignant development, Turkish media reported that the wife of one of the trapped miners, named as Huseyin Gultekin, had given birth to his baby son on Tuesday.
The accident has cast a huge shadow over Wednesday's Republic Day celebrations to mark the foundation of modern Turkey in 1923 out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan travelled to the scene after cancelling a planned lavish reception for the holiday at his new presidential palace in Ankara.
"It would not be appropriate to hold this reception at such a time," Erdogan told reporters.
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