Local Turkish sources reported on Friday that an explosion at the Amasra coal mine in Turkey's Bartin region caused forty-nine miners to be trapped underground. 

According to the National News, the explosion occurred at 6.15 pm local time, 300 meters below ground and the cause of the explosion is yet to be determined.

Governor Nurtac Aslan told reporters that forty-four miners are currently trapped at a depth of 300 meters and another five are trapped at 350 meters.

So far, eight have been rescued and emergency services are working on freeing the rest, the governor's office added, with some of the rescue teams coming from neighboring provinces.

Turkey's interior and energy ministers are on their way to the site.

Scores of miners trapped underground in #Turkish quarry blast

The explosion occurred 300m below ground at the #Amasra coal mine, the local governor's office said.

At least 87 people are said to be trapped after the blast #Türkiye #Breaking 📹@dailyaz1https://t.co/CWthKnM3RU pic.twitter.com/bmMpVlND4D

— Siraj Noorani (@sirajnoorani) October 14, 2022

According to the city's mayor, Recai Cakir, quoted by HaberTurk, 87 miners were in the mine at the time of the explosion.

Two managed to come out with injuries, while fourteen others were either rescued or came out of the mine on their own, Cakir added

He further said that at least six of the workers were lying “motionless” inside the mine, though it wasn't known whether they were dead or injured.

A similar incident has previously occurred in 2014 when a fire in a coal mine in the town of Soma, western Turkey, caused 301 people to die, the country's worst industrial and human disaster.

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