- According to the Minister of the Interior, around 50 were trapped in underground galleries located 300 meters deep.

Ambulances after coal mine explosion in Bartin, Turkey

At least 28 dead in a coal mine explosion in Turkey

The official death toll from a coal mine explosion in Amasra, which occurred on Friday afternoon in Turkey's Black Sea coastal province of Bartin, has risen to 28, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca reported today. Another 11 people are injured and receiving medical attention.

"The number of victims of the explosion in Bartin reached 28. Everything necessary is being done to treat 11 patients, six in Istanbul and five in Bartin," the government member reported on his Twitter account.

Bartın'daki patlama sebebiyle can kayıplarımızın sayısı 28’e ulaştı. İstanbul’da 6, Bartın’da 5 olmak üzere toplam 11 hastamızın tedavisi için gereken her şey yapılıyor.

— Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) October 15, 2022

At the moment the causes of the explosion, which has been recorded at a depth of 300 meters, are unknown, and health personnel and firefighters have traveled to the site.

The governor of Bartin, Nurtac Arslan, has confirmed the presence of 44 miners trapped at a depth of 300 meters and another five at 350 meters. It has also been reported that several workers have already been rescued, some of whom have been taken to hospital.

After learning of the event, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has ordered the ministers of the Interior, Energy and Natural Resources and Labor and Social Security, Suleiman Soilu, Fatih Donmez, and Vedat Bilgin, respectively, to travel to Amasra. Similarly, the Bartin Attorney General's Office has launched an investigation into what happened, assigning the case to three prosecutors.

Soilu, who received information from the authorities at the scene, has told journalists that the incident occurred around 6:15 p.m. and that rescue and search and rescue teams from both the region and the surrounding area intervened after the explosion. , according to 'Sözcü'.

The minister has stated that all the search and rescue teams that are competent have been deployed: "Some of them have arrived here. All our technical friends and all our friends who are familiar with this issue continue their work here." In addition, it has been reported that the governor has been supervising the search and rescue with her colleagues since the beginning of the incident.

Coal mine accidents

Turkey is one of the countries in the world with the most accidents in its coal and lignite mines, which the unions blame on poor 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.

Since 1941, more than three thousand people have died in mining accidents in this Eurasian country.

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