Explosion rips through coal mine in northern Turkey, traps around 25 workers

Explosion at Turkish coal mine traps about 25

ANKARA, Turkey — An explosion ripped through a coal mine in northern Turkey on Monday, trapping up to 25 workers, the country’s labor minister said.

The blast took place at the Karadon mine near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak. There was no immediate word on its cause. It was the third mine accident in Turkey in the past six months.

Minister Omer Dincer, who gave the figure for the missing workers, said “we are trying to reach them.”

Engineer Husnu Unal said eight other workers who had been underground were rescued.

Safety violations and outdated equipment have been factors in past mine accidents in Turkey.

In February, a methane gas explosion collapsed an underground chamber in a coal mine in northwestern Balikesir province, killing 13 workers. In December, a similar accident killed 19 miners in neighboring Bursa province.

In Turkey’s worst mining disaster, a gas explosion killed 270 workers near Zonguldak in 1992.