Turkey coal mine explosion kills 41, injures 11

[Still Waters]

An explosion deep inside a coalmine in Turkey’s mountainous northern Black Sea region has killed at least 40 people, with rescue efforts and work to contain a fire in the facility continuing on Saturday, hours after the incident.

Turkish officials including the energy minister, Fatih Dönmez, said initial assessments indicated the blast on Friday inside the state-owned mine was caused by a firedamp explosion, a reference to the combustion of pockets of highly flammable gases trapped in the coal bed.

“All search and rescue teams are on duty,” he said, adding that the mine’s ventilation system had continued to work.

State television showed white smoke billowing from the mine entrance over the mountainside in the port town of Amasra, with a reporter at the site stating more than 12 hours after the incident: “The fire is happening underneath us, it’s still active.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/14/turkey-asmara-coalmine-blast-leaves-at-least-14-dead-and-49-still-trapped-underground

[Still Waters]

Forty-one people have died following an explosion in a coal mine in northern Turkey, the country's president says.

The discovery of the final missing body brings the rescue operation to an end, more than 20 hours after Friday's deadly blast.

Earlier the interior minister said 58 people working in the mine when the blast went off were rescued or got out by themselves.

Suleyman Soylu said 10 people remained in hospital and one was discharged.

Around 110 people were in the mine at the time of Friday's blast, almost half of them at more than 300m (984ft) deep.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63261746