Death toll from explosion in Turkish mine rises to 17

ANKARA, Turkey -- The death toll from a methane gas explosion in a Turkish coal mine rose to 17 on Friday after firefighters, troops and miners worked through the night to recover the bodies.

Another five miners were hospitalized with methane gas poisoning and 35 escaped unharmed. The blast collapsed one of two shafts in the mine near the western town of Dursunbey in Balikesir province late Thursday.

"We heard a big bang and dust covered everywhere, there was an intense smell of gas," Dogan News Agency quoted one of the hospitalized miners, Ibrahim Demirbas, as saying. "All of the dead were our friends, they were burned to death."

The owner of the private coal mine, Erhan Ortakoylu, said the explosion occurred nearly 500 feet below the surface.

Officials worked through the night under floodlights to pull out the bodies of the dead.

Halil Akcan lost his 19-year-old son, his son-in-law and his brother-in-law, Dogan News Agency reported.

"My son had started working in the mine just recently," the 47-year-old said. "I would never think that such a thing could happen."

Another grieving father, Naim Turhan, said his son left his job at a restaurant to work in the mine to earn the equivalent of $400 a month.

Two of the miners, 18-year-old Salih Evcimen and 22-year-old Ismail Aslantas, were killed on their first day of work at the mine, Dogan reported.

"Of course our grief is enormous, but we are also happy for the survivors," Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said from the site.

Responding to a question over frequent mine accidents, Guler denied that government inspections had overlooked any potential problems.

"No, unfortunately these are possible accidents in mining," Guler said. "They measured the methane gas level just a few minutes before the blast, but the gas level apparently suddenly increased."

The Labor Ministry said Friday it had launched an investigation.

Accidents are not uncommon in Turkish mines due to safety violations, outdated equipment and high concentrations of methane gas.

A year ago, six miners died of methane gas poisoning when a shaft collapsed in a coal mine near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak. A methane explosion in April 2005 killed 18 people at another coal mine in the town of Gediz in western Kutahya province.

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