Coal mine collapse leaves 45 workers wounded in Turkey’s west

İZMİR

A dent occurred in a coal mine in the Aegean province of İzmir late on Dec. 18, leaving 45 workers injured.

Teams from İzmir and the neighboring Manisa province were sent to the mine where the collapse occurred.

Rescued from under the rubble as a result of the two-hour work of the teams, the miners were conveyed to nearby hospitals.

Noting that the total number of injured was 45, Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that 18 people were treated in Kınık, 21 people in Soma, and six people in Bergama districts.

All the workers were completely evacuated from the mine, İzmir Governor Yavuz Selim Köşger said.

“We do not have any citizens who have fallen under the rubble. We do not have any deceased or seriously injured citizens. Some are in Kınık and Soma,” Köşker wrote on Twitter.

In 2014, 301 workers were killed and dozens were wounded at a coal mine in the same area after a fire broke out following an explosion in a power distribution unit.