At least 28 people were killed and 28 injured in an explosion at a coal mine in northwestern Turkey on Friday, a new report from the Turkish health minister said on Saturday.
The previous balance of the Turkish authorities accounted for 22 dead.
The explosion at a mine in the Black Sea city of Amasra at 6:15 p.m. (4:15 p.m. in Lisbon) on Friday killed 28 people, Fahrettin Koca wrote on Twitter, adding that 11 people they had been hospitalized, quoted by the France-Presse news agency.
Rescue teams continue to work to save dozens of workers trapped in galleries 300 and 350 meters below sea level.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said most of the 110 workers managed to get out after the blast, but 49 were trapped in a high-risk area of the facility.
“We are really seeing a sad picture,” said Soylu, who traveled to the site with Turkey’s Energy Minister Fatih Donmez.
A preliminary assessment suggested the explosion could have been caused by a buildup of firedamp, a gas associated with coal, Donmez said.
On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he had canceled a planned visit to Diyarbakir in the southeast to travel to Amasra.
“Our hope is that the loss of life does not increase further, that our miners are saved. All our efforts are directed towards this goal,” Erdogan stressed.
In 2014, 301 people died in a fire that broke out inside a coal mine in Soma, in the west of the country.
Source: TSF
