Official: several Turkish miners trapped in mine collapse in northwestern Turkey

Official: Turkish miners trapped in mine collapse

ANKARA, Turkey — A methane gas explosion Tuesday caused the collapse of an underground chamber of a Turkish coal mine in northwestern Turkey, killing one miner and trapping more than two dozen others, officials and news reports said Tuesday.

The blast occurred at a mine near the town of Dursunbey in Balikesir province. Ruhi Yilmaz, the mayor of Dursunbey, said more than two dozen workers were still trapped.

The state-run Anatolia news agency said 49 miners were believed to be in the mine at the time of the collapse and 23 of them have been evacuated so far. Nine workers were hospitalized, some with severe burns, and one of them died, the agency said.

The mine is 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the center of Dursunbey.

In December, a similar accident killed 19 miners in Bursa province, also in northwestern Turkey. Safety violations and outdated equipment have been factors in past mine accidents in the country.

In Turkey’s worst mining disaster, a gas explosion killed 270 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak in 1992.