41 dead, 11 injured in coal mine explosion
The death toll from a coal mine explosion in northern Turkey has increased to 41 people.
Relatives had waited all night in the cold outside the state-owned TTK Amasra Muessese Mudurlugu mine in the town of Amasra, in the Black Sea coastal province of Bartin, hoping for news.
There were 110 miners working in the shaft when the explosion occurred on Friday evening.
The discovery of the final missing body yesterday brought the rescue operation to an end, more than 20 hours after the deadly blast.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the site yesterday. Interior minister Suleyman Soylu said that as well as the 41 casualties, 11 miners were injured and in hospital, while 58 others managed to get out of the mine on their own or were rescued unharmed.
Emergency crews had worked through the night, digging through rock to try to reach survivors.
Preliminary assessments indicated the explosion was caused by firedamp, which is a reference to flammable gases found in coal mines, energy minister Fatih Donmez said.
A miner who works the day shift said he saw the news about the explosion and hurried to the site to help with the rescue.
Celal Kara, 40, said: “We saw a frightful scene, it cannot be described, it’s very sad.
“They’re all my friends...they all had dreams.”
Officials said three prosecutors had been assigned to investigate the incident.