Turkey: hope of finding new survivors fades after mining disaster
- 10 years ago
Rescuers pulled more dead and injured from a coal mine in western Turkey after an explosion killed at least 200 people and trapped scores more.
Turkey’s energy minister says there is less and less hope of finding new survivors in one of the country’s worst mining accidents.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cancelled other commitments to travel to the site of the disaster.
The blast is thought to have been caused by an electrical fault which then triggered a power cut making the lifts unusable and leaving miners stranded some two kilometres underground.
There are calls on social media for protests in front of the Istanbul headquarters of the company operating the mine.
Rescue workers immediately pumped oxygen down the mine to keep those trapped by the blaze alive .. however the operation to reach survivers was briefly stopped after a second fire in the ventilation system.
Nearly 800 workers had been in the mine in Soma, which lies around 120 kilometres north east of the coastal city of Izmir.
Anxious relatives rushed to the pit head, with all those who could trying to help.
Turkey’s energy minister says there is less and less hope of finding new survivors in one of the country’s worst mining accidents.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cancelled other commitments to travel to the site of the disaster.
The blast is thought to have been caused by an electrical fault which then triggered a power cut making the lifts unusable and leaving miners stranded some two kilometres underground.
There are calls on social media for protests in front of the Istanbul headquarters of the company operating the mine.
Rescue workers immediately pumped oxygen down the mine to keep those trapped by the blaze alive .. however the operation to reach survivers was briefly stopped after a second fire in the ventilation system.
Nearly 800 workers had been in the mine in Soma, which lies around 120 kilometres north east of the coastal city of Izmir.
Anxious relatives rushed to the pit head, with all those who could trying to help.