Turkey: 17 miners killed as coal mine collapses

The blast collapsed one of two shafts of the mine near the western town of Dursunbey in Balikesir province Thursday evening in the latest fatal incident in Turkish mines where accidents are not uncommon due to safety violations, outdated equipment and high concentrations of methane gas.

The Labor Ministry announced on Friday that it has launched an investigation into the accident which also led to the hospitalization of five miners with methane gas poisoning. Thirty-five others escaped unharmed, the AP reports.

Firefighters, military troops and miners, airlifted from nearby provinces by the military, worked around the clock throughout the night to recover the bodies under floodlights.

"Of course, our grief is enormous, but we are also happy for the survivors," Guler said at the site.

The owner of the private coal mine, Erhan Ortakoylu, said the explosion occurred some 150 meters (nearly 500 feet) below the surface.

Guler, responding to a question over frequent mine accidents, denied any oversight in government inspections.

coal mine near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak. A methane explosion in April 2005 killed 18 people at another coal mine in the town of Gediz in western Kutahya province.

In Turkey's worst mining disaster, a gas explosion killed 270 workers near Zonguldak in 1992.