Explosion in Turkish coal mine in Bartin kills at least 40

As fire burned in the mine early Saturday, rescue workers hoped to reach about 15 workers believed to be alive but trapped roughly 1,000 feet underground, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said. But later Saturday, officials said all but one of the 15 had been confirmed dead.

“There is uncertainty about one of our miners. Currently, both efforts of search and rescue and clarification of the uncertainty are ongoing down there,” Soylu told reporters Saturday afternoon.

At least 110 people had been working inside the mine when the explosion occurred. Eleven workers were being treated for injuries in Istanbul and in Bartin province, Soylu said. Fifty-eight workers were rescued or escaped the mine, he added.

Photographs showed throngs of people gathered at the entrance of the mine, including rescue workers, a waiting row of ambulances, and an injured miner covered in what appeared to be black soot.

Hundreds dead or trapped in one of Turkey’s worst mining disasters

Turkey suffered its worst-ever mining accident in 2014, when 301 people were killed after an explosion in a coal mine in Soma, about 225 miles south of Istanbul, sparked a fire that burned for days. Protests after the accident targeted the mine’s owners as well as Erdogan, after he downplayed the incident, suggesting that such accidents were commonplace.

Government officials appeared anxious to strike a different tone after the latest accident. Erdogan, who traveled to Bartin on Saturday, said on Twitter that the rescue work had started “immediately” after the accident and that the “families and children of our lost miner friends are in our caring hands.”

“We will not allow the slightest grievance,” he said. “Our judicial authorities will investigate this tragic incident thoroughly and even the slightest negligence will not be left unanswered.”

Fahim reported from Doha, Qatar. Beril Eski contributed reporting.