Rescuers uncovered the final missing miner’s body on Saturday in a coal mine in northern Turkey, bringing the overall number of casualties from the methane explosion the day before to 41.
On Saturday afternoon, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the announcement shortly after arriving at the scene near the small coal mining town of Amasra on Turkey’s Black Sea coast. Our main goal was to find the miners in the gallery. Finally, we arrived to the final one. “He too died, bringing the dead toll to 41,” he said, putting an end to rescue attempts more than 20 hours after the catastrophic bomb.
The interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, had earlier claimed that 58 miners had survived the blast “either by themselves or thanks to rescuers.” He stated that the explosion had harmed 28 people.
PM Shehbaz expresses his condolences to Turkish citizens.
“I offer our profound condolences for the loss of irreplaceable lives in a coal mine explosion in Turkey’s Bartin district,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Twitter. We are praying for the Turkish people and their grieving families. May the earliest possible rescue attempts reach those who remain trapped.
Eight years previously, a blast in the western town of Soma killed 301 coal miners, making it Turkiye’s deadliest coal mining disaster.
As shown on television footage, people gathered around a damaged white structure at the pit entrance in search of news of their friends and loved ones, some of whom were crying.
Erdogan had previously vowed on Twitter that the incident will be thoroughly investigated.
Although Amasra mayor Recai Cakir reported that many of those who survived had suffered “serious injuries,” the majority of the early information on those trapped within came from workers who had escaped relatively unscathed.
The mining workers’ union blamed the explosion on methane gas buildup. Officials, however, indicated that it was too early to ascertain the specific reason of the tragedy.
More rescuers were rushed in from neighbouring communities to help with the search and rescue.
As seen on television, the miners who had climbed out were given oxygen by paramedics, who then took them to the nearest hospitals.
The local governor claimed that a group of more than 70 rescuers had made it to a spot 250 metres below the pit’s surface.
