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On Tuesday, several coal miners were reported to have died in an explosion at a coal mine in the Manisa province in Western Turkey.
According to unconfirmed reports, over 300 coal miners and other workers are trapped underground in the privately owned mine in Soma district. The people trapped are about 4 km away from the mine’s exit, and 2 km below the surface. Search and rescue operations for the people trapped are currently taking place. 580 workers were estimated to be working underground when the blast occurred, but many of them have been able to escape the blast.
President of Turkey Abdullah Gul has ordered the regional Governor to utilize all the resources available at his disposal to rescue to miners. Earlier in the day, local MP Muzaffer Yurttas, quoting health officials, said that over 20 bodies were retrieved and at least another 20 people were taken to the hospital. He later added that four of them had died of burns and choking. Mehmet Bahattin Atci, a senior local official, said that thick smoke in the mine was impeding rescue efforts.
According to reports, Turkey’s Energy Minister taner Yildiz will be arriving in Soma to supervise the rescue operations. Yildiz told reporters that an electrical fault was the cause for the fire. In his first statement to the press after the accident, Yildiz said that there while there were casualties, death tolls being reported could be misleading. Before leaving for Manisa, he told journalists, “Various numbers can be reported. I don’t want to give any numbers. We first have to reach our workers underground”. He added that four separate rescue crews are currently working in the mine. “The fire creates a problem but oxygen is being pumped into the mine shafts that weren’t affected”, he said.
According to analysts, the safety records of the coal mining industry in Turkey are well behind the records of industrial nations. In 1992, 270 miners died in a mining incident near Zonguldak, considered Turkey’s worst mining disaster.