Turkey mine blast death toll rises to 201

[patriotic Khan]

787 people had been inside the mine at Soma when an electrical fault triggered the blast.

SOMA (Agencies) - At least 201 people have been killed and hundreds more remain trapped underground after an explosion and fire in a coal mine in the western Turkish province of Manisa, the energy minister said Wednesday.

The new toll came as rescue operations continued overnight following Tuesday s disaster when a total of 787 mineworkers were trapped. Some 400 people remain underground and four of those rescued were seriously inured, said Energy Minister Taner Yildiz.

Rescuers are working through the night to reach hundreds more miners still trapped underground.

Worried relatives have gathered near the privately owned mine, about 450km (280 miles) west of the capital Ankara.

Energy Ministry Taner Yildiz confirmed the latest death toll on Turkish TV and said some 80 people had been injured.

He said that of the workers inside the mine at the time of the accident, only about 360 of them - including those killed - had been accounted for.

Mr Yildiz said that carbon monoxide poisoning had claimed many lives. Oxygen was being pumped into the mine to help those still trapped, he added.

The electrical fault triggered a power cut, making the mine cages unusable. Those trapped are reported to be 2km (1.2 miles) below the surface and 4km from the mine entrance.

The blast happened at about midday on Tuesday. Initial reports said 17 people had died but the death toll leapt later in the day.

TV footage showed rescuers helping workers from the mine, their faces and hard-hats covered in soot and dust. Some were carried on stretchers to waiting ambulances.

Police were keeping the crowds back to allow emergency services in and out of the area.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has postponed a trip to Albania over the accident and is to visit Soma instead, his office said.

The mine s owners, Soma Komur Isletmeleri, said an investigation was under way but the accident occurred despite the "highest safety measures and constant controls".

"Our main priority is to get our workers out so that they may be reunited with their loved ones," the owners said in a statement.

Lignite coal mining is a major industry in the Soma area, helping to supply a nearby lignite-fired thermal power plant.

Analysts say the safety record of Turkey s coal mines lags behind that of most industrial nations.

The country s worst mining disaster was in 1992, when 270 miners were killed near Zonguldak, on the Black Sea.
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