An explosion followed by a fire in a coal mine in western Turkey kills miners and while trapping hundreds more in what appeared to be the country's worst mining accident in years, a provincial mayor said, according to the Associated Press.
Different reports say anywhere from 70 to 157 miners have been killed in the incident, with another 200 missing underground, the AP reported. At least eight people were brought out alive.
Cengiz Ergun, mayor of Manisa province where Soma is located, said nearly 600 workers were underground at the time of the explosion, the AP reported. Citing health officials at the entrance to the mine, he told broadcaster CNN Turk that 157 miners had died.
Government officials told Reuters 104 people had been confirmed dead and 54 injured, but said the toll was likely to rise. Turkey's disaster response agency, AFAD, had earlier said 17 miners were killed, according to the AP.
The blast in the power unit of the mine in Soma, around 75 miles northeast of the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, triggered an electricity outage, making the elevators unusable and leaving hundreds of miners stranded underground, the AP reported.
Rescue workers pumped oxygen into the mine to try to keep those still trapped by the blaze alive as thousands of family members and fellow workers, clamoring for information, gathered outside the town's hospital, held back behind police lines, according to the AP.
"Fresh air, oxygen is being pumped into the mine, the AP reported. This is the most important thing for our workers down there," Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told reporters, on his way to Manisa.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan canceled a day trip to Albania, scheduled for Wednesday, and would instead go to the site of the disaster, sources in his office said, the AP reported. "We are facing carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide poisoning ... We have to get our friends out of there swiftly," he said.
Turkey's worst mining accident was in 1992, when a gas explosion killed 263 workers in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak, according to the AP. The country has a poor health and safety record in mining, particularly coal.
