ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday expressed grief after 28 people were reported dead in a mine explosion in northern Turkey and 15 others were still reportedly trapped beneath the rubble.
Around 110 miners working in the shaft of a state-owned mine in Turkey on Friday evening when the explosion occurred. The blast, as per Turkish media reports, took place at the TTK Amasra Muessese Mudurlugu mine in Turkey’s Amasra town.
Energy Minister Fatih Durmaz said authorities were trying to reach 15 miners who were trapped in the gallery, where a fire is still burning. Turkey’s health minister said preliminary assessments of the blast indicate the explosion could have been caused by flammable gases found in the mine.
“Our thoughts & prayers are with the bereaved families & the Turkish people,” Sharif wrote on Twitter. “May those still trapped are rescued at the earliest.”
Turkey’s worst mine disaster was in 2014, when 301 people died in a fire inside a coal mine in the town of Soma, in western Turkey.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to visit Amasra town today, Saturday.
Pakistan and Turkey enjoy cordial bilateral relations. In May, PM Sharif undertook his first visit to the transcontinental country since assuming office, with a high-level delegation.
