Hopes fade for 18 miners trapped underground in Turkey
- 10 years ago
Hopes for 18 workers trapped in a coal mine in southern Turkey are fading.
The men became stuck 300 metres underground at the pit in Ermenek in southern Kamaran province after part of it flooded.
Hundreds of rescue workers have been trying to pump out water but Turkey’s energy minister said water levels had now gone higher than the area where the men were trapped.
Around 16 miners managed to escape, some have blamed a lack of safety measures in place.
Turkey’s emergency management agency says it believes the cause of the accident was a broken pipe in the mine.
The accident comes just six months after another mining disaster in Soma in Turkey where more than 300 workers died.
The men became stuck 300 metres underground at the pit in Ermenek in southern Kamaran province after part of it flooded.
Hundreds of rescue workers have been trying to pump out water but Turkey’s energy minister said water levels had now gone higher than the area where the men were trapped.
Around 16 miners managed to escape, some have blamed a lack of safety measures in place.
Turkey’s emergency management agency says it believes the cause of the accident was a broken pipe in the mine.
The accident comes just six months after another mining disaster in Soma in Turkey where more than 300 workers died.