INTRNATIONAL

Turkish rescue teams are continuing to search for people trapped in a mine after an explosion on Friday killed dozens of workers.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the death toll stood at 40 people and is expected to rise.

The blast took place inside a mine in Bartin province, just north of Ankara, near the Black Sea.

Koca said on Twitter that 11 of the 58 workers rescued so far were taken to hospital for urgent medical care.

Officials, however, are unclear on how many people remained trapped in the mine. It is believed 110 people were working in the mine when the explosion hit.

Images posted online showed relatives of miners waiting anxiously for news of those still unaccounted for.

In 2014, 301 people were killed in Turkey’s worst mining disaster, in the western town of Soma.

Source: Middle East Eye