Explosion inside Turkey coal mine kills at least 41 people – with many more still trapped inside
At least 41 people have been killed in a coal mine explosion in Turkey – with dozens more still trapped inside.
The state-owned TTK Amasra Muessese Mudurlugu mine in the town of Amasra was rocked by the blast at around 6:45pm on Friday, with emergency services working through the night to pull trapped workers to the surface.
Some 110 people were in the mine at the time of the eruption, which the country’s energy minister said was caused by firedamp – a reference to flammable gases found at the site.
The government said 17 people have been injured, including eight who are in intensive care.
One worker made his own way out of the mine and described feeling “pressure” but was unable to see anything due to the dust and dirt, the DHA news agency reported.
Most of the workers were able to evacuate following the blast, but 49 were trapped in a higher risk area of the facility, interior minister Suleyman Soylu said.
An aerial view of the coal mine in Amasra
“We are faced with a picture that we truly regret, that we regret to have to share (with the public),” Mr Soylu said.
Several rescue teams were dispatched to the area, including from neighbouring provinces, Turkey’s disaster management agency, AFAD, added.
Relatives and friends of the miners faced an anxious overnight wait outside the facility, with many bracing for bad news.
Rescue workers rest outside the coal mine
President cancels planned trip to deal with mine incident
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled a planned visit to the southeastern city of Diyarbakir and instead travelled to Amasra to coordinate the rescue operation himself on Saturday.
He said three prosecutors had been assigned to investigate the incident.
“Our hope is that the loss of life does not increase further, that our miners are saved,” Mr Erdogan said in a statement.
“All our efforts are geared in that direction.
“We don’t want to see deficiencies or unnecessary risks”, the president said, adding that an investigation would reveal if anyone is responsible for the blast.
Left-wing trade union, DISK, said the deaths were preventable and claimed some safety precautions had been ignored – as union leader Arzu Cerkezoglu branded the explosion a “massacre”.
President Erdogan addresses the media during a visit to the coal mine site
Turkish interior minister Suleyman Soylu, right, helps carry a coffin of one of the miners killed in the explosion Pic: AP
Funerals begin as rescue efforts continue
Mourners said their final goodbye to miners killed in the explosion as funerals were held on Saturday.
Mr Soylu was pictured helping to carry the coffin of Selcuk Ayvaz, whose coffin was draped in a red and white Turkish flag.
Another victim, Aziz Kose, 28, held his newborn baby just days before the tragedy claimed his life.
Most of the victims are believed to come from working class families and worked the coal mines to make a living.
Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, also offered rescue assistance – despite tensions with neighbouring Turkey.
In Turkey’s worst mine disaster, a total of 301 people died in 2014 in a fire inside a coal mine in the town of Soma, in the west of the country.
Just five months later, 18 miners perished after a coal mine flooded in central Karaman province.
Donald Trump has threatened Russia with more sanctions after a series of deadly strikes across Ukraine, as he said of Vladimir Putin: “What the hell happened to him?”
The US president appeared aghast at the conduct of his counterpart in the Kremlin after drone and missile attacks in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities left 12 people dead and dozens more injured.
Trump criticises Putin – latest updates
Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey ahead of a flight back to Washington, Mr Trump said: “I’m not happy with Putin. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
“He’s killing a lot of people,” he added. “I’m not happy about that.”
Mr Trump – who said he’s “always gotten along with” Mr Putin – told reporters he would consider more sanctions against Moscow.
“He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” he said.
Ukraine said the barrage of strikes overnight into Sunday was the biggest aerial attack of the war so far, with 367 drones and missiles fired by Russian forces.
It came despite Mr Trump repeatedly talking up the chances of a peace agreement. He even spoke to Mr Putin on the phone for two hours last week.
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‘Shameful’ attacks
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is ready to sign a ceasefire deal, and suggested Russia isn’t serious about signing one.
In a statement after the latest attacks on his country, he urged the US and other national leaders to increase the pressure on Mr Putin, saying silence “only encourages” him.
Mr Trump’s envoy for the country, Keith Kellogg, later demanded a ceasefire, describing the Russian attacks as “shameful”.
Three children were among those killed in the attacks, explosions shaking the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, and Mykolaiv.
Ukrainian siblings Tamara, 12, Stanislav, eight, and Roman, 17, were killed in Russian airstrikes. Pic: X/@Mariana_Betsa
Before the onslaught, Russia said it had faced a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday. It said around 100 were intercepted and destroyed near Moscow and in central and southern regions.
The violence has escalated despite Russia and Ukraine completing the exchange of 1,000 prisoners each over the past three days.
Donald Trump says he will delay the imposition of 50% tariffs on goods entering the United States from the European Union until July, as the two sides attempt to negotiate a trade deal.
It comes after the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a post on social media site X that she had spoken to Mr Trump and expressed that they needed until 9 July to “reach a good deal”.
The US president had last Friday threatened to bring in the 50% tariffs from 1 June, as European leaders said they were ready to respond with their own measures.
But Mr Trump has now said that date has been put back to 9 July to allow more time for negotiations with the 27-member bloc, with the phone call appearing to smooth over tensions for now at least.
Speaking on Sunday before boarding Air Force One for Washington DC, Mr Trump told reporters that he had spoken to Ms Von der Leyen and she “wants to get down to serious negotiations” and she vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out”.
The US president, in comments on his Truth Social platform, had reignited fears last Friday of a trade war between the two powers when he said talks were “going nowhere” and the bloc was “very difficult to deal with”.
Mr Trump told the media in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday that Ms Von der Leyen “just called me… and she asked for an extension in the June 1st date. And she said she wants to get down to serious negotiation”.
“We had a very nice call and I agreed to move it. I believe July 9th would be the date. That was the date she requested. She said we will rapidly get together and see if we can work something out,” the US president added.
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Shortly after, he wrote on Truth Social: “I agreed to the extension – July 9, 2025 – It was my privilege to do so.”
On his so-called “liberation day” last month, Mr Trump unleashed tariffs on many of America’s trade partners. But since then he’s backed down in a spiralling tit-for-tat tariff face-off with China, and struck a deal with the UK.
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Much of his most incendiary rhetoric on trade has been directed at Brussels, though, even going as far as to claim the EU was created to rip the US off.
Responding to his 50% tariff threat, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.
“We stand ready to defend our interests.”
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