A fire at a Turkish coal mine has killed 201 people and lingering smoke is hampering rescue workers from searching for hundreds more miners trapped underground, authorities and television stations said today.
The death toll from the accident that also injured 80 is set to rise, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said. A further 200 miners are feared to be trapped underground in a mine that runs more than 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) underground, authorities said. The accident in the western town of Soma could turn out to be the biggest mining disaster in Turkish history, authorities said.
“Time is working against us; as time passes our problems are becoming severe and the number of dead increases,” Yildiz told reporters in televised remarks at the site of the mine. “There were 787 miners when the accident occurred, 363 of them have been evacuated or walked out themselves so far.”
Anguished relatives have been waiting outside the mine and a local hospital since yesterday, as hopes dimmed for the survival of those still trapped.
The mine is owned by Soma Komur Isletmeleri AS, part of the Soma Group. The company said in an e-mailed statement that an explosion at a power distribution unit started the blaze, and the cause of the accident is under investigation. Company officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Soma’s website says that it’s the largest underground coal producer in Turkey, and has interests in real estate including an Istanbul office tower. The company produces 250,000 tons of coal a month from the Soma field, which is mostly sold to a local power plant, the company said on the website.
The mine has been regularly inspected and no violation of safety regulations was observed in the latest inspection less than a month ago, state-run news agency Anadolu reported, citing Turkey’s Labor Ministry.
“If there is negligence, we won’t remain indifferent to it,” Yildiz said, adding that preparations for funerals today were under way.
Safety conditions at the mines in Soma were discussed in Turkey’s parliament as recently as last month, the Hurriyet newspaper cited Ozgur Ozel, a Republican People’s Party lawmaker, as saying. He said a proposal for an inquiry, backed by his party and other opposition groups, was rejected.
“As Manisa’s members of parliament, we’re sick of going to miners’ funerals,” Ozel said, referring to the western region where the mine is located, according to Hurriyet.
More than 100 miners have been killed in accidents in Turkey since 2003, according to Anadolu. The country’s worst mine accident occurred in 1992, when 263 miners were killed in a gas explosion in Kozlu in the northwest.
In March, a group of eight labor and professional organizations published a statement saying that Turkey had the worst record for workplace accidents in Europe, with an average of three workers killed every day, according to Turkiye newspaper.