ISTANBUL: An explosion in a coal mine in Turkey's northern Bartin province on Friday killed two people and injured 20, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said, after local media reported that 49 were trapped.
The cause of the explosion was unknown, Turkey's Disaster Management Authority (AFAD) said, retracting an earlier statement the explosion was caused by a transformer.
Media reports said that the explosion could have been caused by firedamp, a name for flammable gas in coal mines.
"According to current information, two citizens died and we have 20 wounded in the explosion that occurred in a coal mine in Bartin," Koca said on Twitter.
The explosion occurred 300 metres (985 ft) below the entrance of the mine at around 1515 GMT, the Bartin governor's office said.
Separately, state-owned Anadolu Agency quoted Bartin Governor Nurtac Arslan as saying 44 people were trapped 300 metres below the entrance of the mine, and five more were trapped 350 metres below entrance.
Footage on Turkish television showed what it said were the families of the miners watching from the sidelines as health and rescue workers huddled around the entrance into the mine.
Some miners were taken out and carried off to ambulances on stretchers, footage showed. TRT Haber cited Arslan as saying eight were able leave the mine by their own means.
Bartin prosecutor's office launched an investigation into the cause of the explosion, Anadolu said.
Energy Minister Fatih Donmez and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu were visiting the scene of the blast, the energy ministry said.
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