Mine disaster's dead now 274 in Turkey

150 missing; anger aimed at premier

Rescuers carry an injured miner out of a coal mine Wednesday in Soma in western Turkey as hundreds of relatives and miners wait for news of those still inside.
Rescuers carry an injured miner out of a coal mine Wednesday in Soma in western Turkey as hundreds of relatives and miners wait for news of those still inside.

SOMA, Turkey -- Rescue workers coated in grime trudged repeatedly out of a coal mine Wednesday with stretchers of bodies that swelled the death toll from an explosion and fire at the mine to 274.

Hopes faded for 150 others still trapped underground in smoldering tunnels filled with toxic gases.

Anti-government protests broke out in the mining town of Soma, as well as in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan heckled as he tried to show concern. Protesters shouted "Murderer" and "Thief" and Erdogan was forced to seek refuge in a supermarket, surrounded by police.

Hundreds of relatives and miners jostled outside the mine's entrance Wednesday, waiting for news amid a heavy police presence. Rows of women wailed uncontrollably, and men knelt sobbing or simply stared in disbelief as rescue workers removed body after body, some charred beyond recognition.

One elderly man wearing a prayer cap wailed after he recognized one of the dead, and police had to restrain him from climbing into an ambulance with the body. An injured rescue worker was whisked away on a stretcher to the cheers of onlookers.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 people were inside the coal mine at the time of Tuesday's explosion: 274 died and 363 were rescued, including scores who were injured.

Authorities said the fire in the mine followed an explosion at a power-distribution unit and that most deaths were caused by carbon-monoxide poisoning. Erdogan promised the tragedy would be investigated to its "smallest detail" and "no negligence will be ignored."

The death toll topped a 1992 gas explosion at a mine that killed 263 workers near Turkey's Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

"We are dealing with an incident that might result with the highest worker loss ever in Turkey," Yildiz said, according to Turkish news reports. "We still want to hope that miners have found small caves to hide in to breathe and survive."

But, he said, "I have to say that our hopes are dimming in terms of the rescue efforts."

Yildiz said rescue workers were trying late Wednesday to reach the bodies of up to 22 people trapped in one zone. Some of the workers were 1,400 feet deep inside the mine, he said.

A rescue worker who declined to be named said he led a 10-man team about a half-mile into the mine's tunnels, where they recovered three bodies before being forced to flee because of smoke from burning coal. Rescue operations were halted for several hours into this morning because high gas concentrations in the mine needed to be cleared.

The last miner to be rescued alive emerged from the mine around dawn Wednesday, and the first burials took place later in the day.

Giza Nergiz, a 28-year-old English teacher, said some of the victims had complained about safety at the mine.

"We buried three of our high school friends today," she said, walking with her husband Onur Nergiz, a 30-year-old mine administrator. "A lot of people were complaining about safety, but nobody was doing anything about it."

Erdogan declared three days of national mourning and postponed a trip to Albania to visit the mine in Soma, 155 miles south of Istanbul. He warned that some radical groups would try to use the disaster to discredit his government.

"Our hope is that, God willing, they will be brought out," Erdogan said of those still trapped. "That is what we are waiting for."

But in the face of criticism from opponents and families of the miners, he grew testy. "Explosions like this in these mines happen all the time," he said.

"These are ordinary things. There is a thing in literature called 'work accident.'... It happens in other workplaces, too," Erdogan said. "It happened here. It's in its nature. It's not possible for there to be no accidents in mines. Of course, we were deeply pained by the extent here."

In Soma, where coal mining has been the main industry for decades, Erdogan's ties to mining leaders were vehemently noted. Townspeople said the wife of the mine's boss works for Erdogan's ruling NKP party and that the boss himself had skipped town.

"They are trying to look like they care, but they are not helping anyone. There is no urgency, even now. People blame Tayyip," Nergiz said.

Downtown, protesters faced off against riot police in front of the NKP party headquarters, smashing its windows with rocks.

"Our prime minister is a dictator," said 16-year-old Melih Atik. "Neither the government nor the company took precautions in the mine, and everyone knows that's why this happened."

Erdogan has been dogged by corruption allegations and was forced to oust four government ministers in December after they were implicated in a police bribery probe. The scandal deepened after audio recordings were posted on the Internet suggesting corruption by the prime minister and his family members. Erdogan has denied the allegations and said they are a plot to discredit his government.

In Istanbul, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the headquarters of mine owner Soma Komur Isletmeleri A.S. Police used tear gas and water cannons to break up a group that tried to march to the city's Taksim Square to denounce poor safety conditions.

Police also dispersed a group marching to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources in Ankara to protest the deaths.

Fences were erected and police stood guard outside Soma's hospital, where scores of the injured were being treated. Some residents said the men were being pressured by the mining company not to talk about the blast.

Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which is plagued by poor safety conditions. Tuesday's explosion tore through the mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, which likely raised the casualty toll.

Turkey's Labor and Social Security Ministry said the mine had been inspected five times since 2012, most recently in March, and that no safety violations were detected. But the country's main opposition party said Erdogan's ruling party had recently voted down a proposal to hold a parliamentary inquiry into a series of small-scale accidents at the mines around Soma.

On Wednesday, miners with hard hats, their clothes smeared in dirt and dust, wiped sweat and grime from their faces as they walked away from the rescue site, looking exhausted and overwhelmed.

"We came here as soon as we heard about an explosion," said a 28-year-old miner whose cousin was trapped inside. "We saved many, but most of the stranded were dead. I don't want to say more." The miner refused to give his name without approval from his employer.

Some parts of the mine remained inaccessible Wednesday, rescuers said.

"Even with a gas mask, it is hard to survive," Sami Kilic, a miner who has been working at the Soma mine for nine years, told the news channel CNN Turk. "When a power-distribution unit explodes, power goes off; when power goes off, ventilation breaks down; when ventilation breaks down, air circulation stops, and so do chances to live."

Kilic said miners were trained to use gas masks in emergencies on the assumption that they would reach fresh air in 45 minutes.

"We received training as to how to reach up to fresh air in 45 minutes wearing a gas mask," Kilic said. "You cannot climb up 1.5 kilometers in 45 minutes."

Bayram Yilmaz, a 44-year-old miner who recently quit working, said the death toll was much higher than officials had announced. "At least 770 people went down, and none of us could yet reach the exact location of the blast," he said.

"We are not even counting outsiders who come here as part-time, unregistered workers," Yilmaz said.

Emine Gulsen sat Wednesday with other women near the entrance to the mine, where her missing son, Mehmet Gulsen, 31, has worked for five years.

"My son is gone! My Mehmet!" she wailed over and over.

Mehmet's aunt, Makbule Dag, still held out some hope.

"God willing," he will be rescued, she said.

Information for this article was contributed by Desmond Butler, Suzan Fraser and Berza Simsek of The Associated Press and by Sebnem Arsu and Alan Cowell of The New York Times.

A Section on 05/15/2014

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