Death toll rises to 41 in Turkey coal mine explosion

The death toll from a coal mine explosion in northern Turkey rose to at least 41 people on Saturday as six workers who were rescued were seriously injured and taken to a hospital in Istanbul.

110 miners were on duty when the explosion took place on Friday evening at the state-owned TTK (Turkiye Taskomuru Kurumu) mine in the Amasra district of the Black Sea coastal province of Bartin.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that death toll has risen to 40 and 58 people had been rescued adding that search and rescue operations were continuing for one missing miner.

Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said the fire in the mine was largely contained but fire isolation and cooling efforts were continuing after the incident that took place 350 metres (0.2 miles) below ground as the rescue efforts came to an end.

Donmez earlier said that preliminary assessments indicated that the explosion was likely caused by firedamp, which is a reference to flammable gasses found in coal mines.

Meanwhile TTK denied allegations on social media that Court of Accounts in 2019  assessed a "risk of firestorm explosion" in regarding the mining quarry in which the disaster occurred.

"The news in question does not reflect the truth and contains disinformation," TT said in a statement.

In 2014, Turkey suffered its worst mine disaster in western district Soma, where 301 people died in a fire inside a coal mine.