Three miners killed, five injured in Turkey coal mine methane blast
A methane gas explosion at a privately owned coal mine in Zonguldak province, northern Turkey, killed three workers and injured five others on Friday. Authorities have opened an investigation into the incident.
A methane gas explosion at a privately owned coal mine in northern Turkey killed three workers and injured five others on Friday, state media reported. The blast occurred underground at a mine in the Kilimli district of Zonguldak province, on the Black Sea coast, and prosecutors have launched an investigation into how it happened.
Zonguldak Governor Osman Hacıbektaşoğlu told reporters that eight people were reported to be inside the mine at the time of the explosion, which took place at around 10 a.m. local time. Two miners were initially confirmed dead after being brought out of the mine. Rescuers later recovered the body of a third worker who had been trapped under debris, bringing the death toll to three. Two of the injured were conscious, while two others had been intubated due to burns, according to the governor.
Turkish officials said the explosion was caused by a build-up of methane gas, a flammable gas that is a persistent hazard in Zonguldak's underground coal seams. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said all eight miners affected had been reached and five injured had been rescued. He added that an expert panel had been assigned by the General Directorate of Mining and Petroleum Affairs to examine all aspects of the accident, including the ventilation and safety conditions in the working area.
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said emergency teams had been dispatched and that thorough inspections were being carried out at the mine. Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said the Zonguldak Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had launched an urgent investigation, with one deputy chief public prosecutor and two public prosecutors assigned to the case. Emergency responders from the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, medical teams and firefighters were sent to the site.
Scenes at the hospital where the injured were being treated were emotional, with some relatives of the miners reportedly collapsing outside as they waited for news of their loved ones. The families' anguish underscored the human cost of work that has long defined the region's economy, where mining has been a principal source of employment for generations of men from Zonguldak and surrounding towns.
Mining accidents remain a recurring concern in Turkey. The country's deadliest mine disaster occurred near Zonguldak in 1992, when a gas explosion killed 270 workers. More recently, in October 2022, a methane explosion at a state-owned mine in Amasra, in the Black Sea province of Bartın, killed 41 people, prompting renewed calls for tighter enforcement of workplace safety rules in the sector.
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