"32 trapped after mine explosion in Turkey" by Associated Press | May 18, 2010
ANKARA, Turkey — An explosion ripped through a major coal mine in northern Turkey yesterday, trapping 32 workers underground, authorities said.
The blast took place at the Karadon mine near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak. There was no immediate word on its cause. It was the third mine accident in Turkey in six months.
Erdal Ata, governor of Zonguldak Province, said 32 workers were stuck 1,770 feet below ground and there had been no contact with them since the blast. “We are trying to reach them,’’ Labor Minister Omer Dincer said....
Anxious relatives of the workers waited for news alongside dozens of ambulances at the mine entrance, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.
Safety violations and outdated equipment have been factors in mine accidents in Turkey.
It is the same everywhere, AmeriKa.
In February, a methane gas explosion collapsed an underground chamber in a coal mine in northwestern Balikesir Province, killing 13 workers. In December, a similar accident killed 19 miners in neighboring Bursa Province. In Turkey’s worst mining disaster, a gas explosion killed 270 workers near Zonguldak in 1992.
In Moscow yesterday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin berated officials over a blast at a Siberian coal mine earlier this month that claimed at least 66 lives.
Related: Russia's Coal Mine Rescue
Come to think of it, haven't seen much of Russia in the paper lately, either.
Putin announced a raft of measures aimed at combating Russia’s poor mine safety record, and said corruption was one of the chief culprits.
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Also see: Coal Miner's Slaughter
Mining Miracle in China
Around AmeriKa: Son of Coal Miner's Slaughter
"Hope for the survival of 30 trapped Turkish miners was fading yesterday as rescue workers struggled to reach them a day after a methane gas explosion collapsed parts of a major coal mine in northern Turkey, an engineer said.
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Globe did (never saw another word).
