GAMBAR ATAS: IHA.
THE death toll from a coal mine explosion in northern Turkey has risen to at least 40 on Saturday, officials said.
There were 110 miners working in the shaft when the explosion occurred Friday evening.
Desperate relatives waited all night in the cold outside the state-owned TTK Amasra Muessese Mudurlugu mine in Amasra, on the the Black Sea coastal province of Bartin for news about their love ones, reports CBS News.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that 40 miners have been confirmed dead, 11 injured and hospitalized, while 58 managed to exit the mine or were rescued unharmed. The status of one remaining miner was unclear.
Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said rescue efforts were almost complete, after earlier saying that a fire was still burning in the mine’s gallery where more than a dozen miners had been trapped.
Initial investigations found that the explosion could have been caused by firedamp, which is a reference to flammable gases found in coal mines.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was expected to visit Amasra on Saturday.
-BTS Media
