[Ammi]

..this is awful...


An explosion at a coal mine in western Turkey has left at least 201 workers dead and scores injured, officials say.

Energy Ministry Taner Yildiz said 787 people had been inside the mine at Soma in Manisa province when an electrical fault triggered the blast.

Rescuers worked through the night to try 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

Mr 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 12:30 GMT 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

Sena Isbiler, a mother of one of the miners, stood on top of piles of wood, anxiously craning her neck to see those being led out of the mine.

"I have been waiting for my son since early afternoon," she told AFP news agency. "I haven't heard anything about him yet."

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


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27403061

[arista]

Yes Terrible Mines
under bad managers

Tragic

[arista]

yes his Bollocks - that will hurt

[Kizzy]

I just saw this, isn't that what thatcher did to our miners?

[arista]

Position of power: Yusuf Yerkel, circled,
pictured to the right of Turkey's Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during
a visit to the coal mine in Soma on Wednesday

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz31n5oquZ4


Yes he Protects Turkeys Leader
in Person and Boot

[arista]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

I just saw this, isn't that what thatcher did to our miners?

Stupid Comment


These Died
[282 killed and dozens trapped ]

[MTVN]

What's Ed Miliband doing there

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by arista

Stupid Comment


These Died
[282 killed and dozens trapped ]

My comment was speaking metaphorically.... don't insult me please.

[arista]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

My comment was speaking metaphorically.... don't insult me please.

Leave our great leader Thatcher
out of these Deaths

[Livia]

Originally Posted by MTVN

What's Ed Miliband doing there

Made me LOL...

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by arista

Leave our great leader Thatcher
out of these Deaths

I will but only as it's slightly off topic, I won't mention that tyrant again.

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by MTVN

What's Ed Miliband doing there

I'm a bit worried about this..my family are going to turkey next week (not the touristy part, opposite side) and if proper riots start they will get stuck in the middle of it :/

[arista]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

I'm a bit worried about this..my family are going to turkey next week (not the touristy part, opposite side) and if proper riots start they will get stuck in the middle of it :/

This is due for 3 days in respect of the dead


The police want it ended after that


So it should be OK by then