Turkey: a coal mine explosion leaves 35 miners trapped

An explosion at a coal mine in the Turkish province of Bartin, on the Black Sea coast, has trapped 35 miners in the shaft, authorities said on Friday. Turkey.

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“A partial explosion occurred for unknown reasons around 6:15 p.m. (3:15 p.m. GMT) at a depth of 300 meters in an Amasra coal mine shaft. Emergency teams rush to the scene.”indicated the office of the governor of Bartin in a brief message broadcast on social networks.

The governor, Nurtaç Arslan, went to the place to speak with the miners, but told the media that the causes of the explosion are still unknown, although she explained that there were 44 workers at the 300-meter level and five at the 350-meter level. meters below ground.

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The union leader Hakan Yesil told the press that there were 47 miners at the site of the explosion, of which 12 have already left or have been rescued, so 35 remain to be found.

Moments earlier, the mayor of Amasra, Recai Çakir, told CNNTürk that eleven miners had been rescued, two of them slightly injured.

“They have seen six motionless bodies on the ground, we don’t know if they are dead or unconscious,” the alderman added.

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“We do not know anything. There was dust and smoke, we couldn’t see what happened. I got out on my own. Those of us who were a bit far away only felt the pressure of the explosion, but we couldn’t see anything.” a miner told NTV, as he came out of the shaft.

Turkey It frequently suffers serious accidents in coal and lignite mines, which the unions attribute to the lack of safety measures in a poorly regulated and controlled sector.

The biggest disaster took place in May 2014 at a mine in Soma, in the western province of Manisa, when 301 miners died in a fire caused by an electrical explosion in a shaft.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.