Turkey mine blast: Death toll rises to 245, close to 450 rescued: officials

Soma, Turkey:Turkey put the death toll from the devastating mine blast at 245 on Wednesday, and a coal mine operator said nearly 450 of its workers had been rescued.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said the ongoing fire and toxic carbon monoxide fumes were hampering rescue efforts at the mine in the western town of Soma. The mine operator Soma Komur said in a statement that close to 450 of its workers had been rescued since the explosion on Tuesday.

Earlier, Turkey PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared three days of national mourning, ordering flags to be lowered to half-staff. Erdogan postponed a one-day visit to Albania and visited Soma instead. The explosion tore through the mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, officials said, which likely raised the casualty toll because there were more miners inside the mine than usual.

Turkey's worst mining accident happened in 1992 when 263 workers were killed in a gas explosion in a mine in Zonguldak. Tuesday's explosion was believed to have been triggered by a faulty electrical transformer at around 1230 GMT Tuesday.

A security source told AFP that there were pockets in the mine, one of which was open so rescuers were able to reach the workers, but the second was blocked with workers trapped inside.

Hundreds of people gathered around the explosion site as rescuers brought out injured workers, who were coughing and struggling to breathe due to the dust.

Sena Isbiler, mother of one of the miners, stood on top of piles of wood, craning her neck to see who was being led out of the mine. "I have been waiting for my son since early afternoon," she told AFP. "I haven't heard anything about him yet."

Arum Unzar, a colleague of the missing miners said he had lost a friend previously "but this is enormous." "All the victims are our friends," he said as he wept. "We are a family and today that family is devastated. We have had very little news and when it does come it's very bad," he added.

Tragic accident

Fire officials were trying to pump clean air into the mine shaft for those who remained trapped some two kilometres (one mile) below the surface and four kilometres from the entrance.

Injured people emerged from the collapsed mine, some walking, others being carried by rescue workers while being given oxygen, as security officers tried to keep ambulance routes clear.

Energy Minister Yildiz promised the government would "not turn a blind eye" to negligence. "We will do whatever necessary, including all administrative and legal steps," he said.

The mining company Soma Komur issued a statement saying it had taken maximum measures to ensure safety. "The accident happened despite maximum safety measures and inspections, but we have been able to take prompt action."

Hopes fading

Turkey's ministry of labour and social security said the mine was last inspected on March 17 and was found to comply with safety regulations.

But Oktay Berrin, a miner, said workers were not protected underground. "There is no security in this mine," he told AFP. "The unions are just puppets and our management only cares about money."

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was due to arrive in Soma on Wednesday after cancelling a trip to Albania.

Speaking in Ankara, the leader expressed his "heartfelt condolences" to the families of those who died. "Some of the workers have been rescued and I hope we will be able to rescue the others," Erdogan said.

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul has cancelled a trip to China and will also travel to the scene of the disaster.

Yildiz told journalists in Soma that a team of 400 people were involved in the rescue effort and that the main cause of the deaths was carbon monoxide and dioxide poisoning.

He said fires and the risk of toxic carbon monoxide were hampering rescue efforts. "I must say that our hopes about rescue efforts inside (the mine) are fading," he added.

The miners are all thought to have gas masks, but it was not clear how long they would last. Vedat Didari, a professor of mining, told AFP that the biggest risk was the lack of oxygen.

"If the ceiling fans are not working, the workers could die within an hour," said Didari, from the Bulent Ecevit University in the city of Zonguldak.

Soma is one of the key centres for lignite coal mining in Turkey, a district with a population of around 100,000 where the mines and a lignite-fired thermal power plant are the main economic activity.