Source: CNN
Soma, Turkey (CNN) — A sullen throng maintained a vigil outside a coal mine in Soma, Turkey, on Wednesday as hopes flagged for finding survivors inside the burning complex of tunnels.
“It’s too late. There’s no more hope,” said miner Veysel Sengul, who had already lost four friends and was waiting by the mine entrance for more.
A power transformer blew up during shift change Tuesday, sparking a choking fire deep inside the mine.
Rescuers saved at least 88 miners, but 245 were known dead, according to Turkey’s Natural Disaster and Emergency Coordination Directorate. Those already autopsied died of carbon monoxide poisoning, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said as many as 120 more were trapped inside the mine, but that was before rescue crews grimly hurried a series of stretchers — at least some clearly carrying corpses — past the waiting crowd.
Efforts to rescue any survivors were complicated by the fire. Rescue volunteer Mustafa Gursoy told the CNN team at the mine that conditions inside the mine are abominable — hot, smoky and filled with carbon monoxide.
Categories: Europe, Europe and Australia, Turkey