Few chances to rescue miners in Turkey

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Few chances remain to rescue the miners, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said, Turkish TRT channel reported on May 14.

The mine has burst into flame.

Although the miners have few chances for survival, the rescuers will do everything possible, the minister stressed.

Most of the miners died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The miners have only 50 minutes of air left, according to the TV channel.

The death toll has increased to 201 people, more than 500 people remain under the rubble, according to recent reports, Yildiz said.

The minister stressed that 787 people were at work during the mining accident and 363 of the miners have been rescued.

It is difficult to determine the exact number of dead since the explosion occurred during a shift change. The accident occurred at the mine in the Soma settlement of Manisa province, located 250 kilometers south of Istanbul. The mine is located at a depth of about two kilometers.

A short circuit caused the fire and explosion that led to the mine collapse, according to preliminary data.

In the first four months of 2014, some 1,235 people were killed as a result of the work accidents in Turkey, 103 of them were female, according to the Turkish Statistics Institute.