Eight others critically injured after a blast hundreds of metres below ground tore through a mine in Amasya.
An explosion inside a coal mine in northern Turkey killed at least 28 people, Turkish officials said, while rescuers were trying to bring dozens of others trapped inside the mine to the surface.
The blast occurred on Friday at the state-owned TTK Amasra Muessese Mudurlugu mine in the town of Amasra, in the Black Sea coastal province of Bartin.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter on Friday that 28 people had lost their lives in the incident.
Eleven of the 58 rescued miners were still getting treatment in hospitals, Koca also said, adding that it was not clear how many people were still trapped due to the blast that occurred as 110 people were working inside.
Energy Minister Fatih Donmez, who went to Amasra after the blast, said a preliminary assessment indicated the explosion was likely caused by firedamp – a reference to flammable gases found in coal mines.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu also travelled to Amasra to coordinate the rescue operation. Soylu also would not provide a number for those still trapped.
Several rescue teams were dispatched to the area, including from neighbouring provinces, Turkey’s disaster management agency, AFAD, said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would cancel all his other arrangements and fly to the scene of the accident on Saturday.
“Our hope is that the loss of life will not increase further, that our miners will be found alive,” Erdogan said in a tweet.
“All of our efforts are aimed in this direction.”
The explosion occurred 300 metres (985 feet) below the entrance of the mine at around 15:15 GMT, the Bartin governor’s office said.
Television images showed hundreds of people, some with tears in their eyes, congregating around a damaged white building near the entrance to the pit.
Earlier, Turkey’s Maden-Is mining workers’ union attributed the blast to a build-up of methane gas, but other officials said it was premature to draw conclusions about the cause of the accident.
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, western Turkey.