Ankara: At least 28 people have died and dozens remain trapped underground after an explosion in a coal mine in northern Turkey’s Bartin province.
Around 110 people were in the mine at the time of the blast on Friday, almost half of them at over 300 metres deep, BBC reported.
Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 11 people had been rescued and were being treated.
Emergency crews worked through the night, digging through rock to try to reach more survivors.
Video footage showed miners emerging blackened and bleary-eyed accompanied by rescuers at the facility in Amasra, on the Black Sea coast, the BBC reported.
The family and friends of the missing could also be seen at the mine, anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones.
The explosion is believed to have occurred at around 300 meters deep. At least 49 people were working in the “risky” zone between 300 and 350 meters (985 to 1,150 feet) underground, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.
The cause of the blast is not yet known, and the local prosecutor’s office has begun an investigation.
The mine belongs to the state-owned Turkish Hard Coal Enterprises.
