ANKARA, Turkey – ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — An engineer says hope for the survival of 30 trapped Turkish miners has grown dim as rescue workers struggled to reach them a day after a methane gas explosion collapsed parts of a major coal mine in northern Turkey.
Chief Engineer Husnu Unal says rescuers pumped air into the mine to try to dispel the gas overnight and began digging through a collapsed chamber Tuesday to reach the miners who were buried nearly 1,770 feet (540 meters) below the surface.
However, Unal says "their chance of staying alive is fading." Rescue workers evacuated 11 miners after Monday's explosion including two overnight.
Unal says the explosion might have been triggered by the use of dynamite during digging in the mine. It was the third mine accident in Turkey in the past sixth months.
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