Rescue teams recover more bodies from Turkish coal mine; death toll reaches 282
SOMA, Turkey – A Turkish minister says rescue teams have recovered eight more victims from a coal mine in western Turkey, raising the death toll in Turkey’s worst mining accident to 282.
Even as hopes for some 150 other miners trapped underground faded, Taner Yildiz told reporters Thursday that rescue efforts were focusing on two areas inside the mine.
Yildiz said a fire was still blazing inside the mine, hindering the operation.
The government has said 787 people were inside the coal mine at the time of Tuesday’s explosion and 363 were rescued, including scores who were injured.
The death toll topped a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near Turkey’s Black Sea port of Zonguldak.
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