A methane gas explosion at a privately operated coal mine in the Gelik area of Zonguldak's Kilimli district killed three workers and injured five others on Friday, according to Hürriyet. The blast occurred at around 10:00 a.m., and rescue teams recovered the body of a worker who had been trapped underground, raising the death toll from two to three.
Emergency crews including firefighters, AFAD disaster response teams, gendarmerie units and rescue teams from the Turkish Hard Coal Corporation (TTK) were sent to the site after the explosion was reported. Seven workers were brought out of the mine; two were confirmed dead at that stage, and five were taken by ambulance to hospital. Two of the injured were initially reported to be in serious condition.
Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu later said on social media that one of the five injured workers remained in a critical condition, Hürriyet reported. The families of the injured gathered outside Atatürk State Hospital, where some experienced emotional distress and were attended to by medical staff.
Why it matters
The accident puts Zonguldak, Turkey's historic hard-coal region, back at the centre of a long-running debate over mine safety. Methane accumulation — known in Turkish as grizu — is a persistent hazard in the region's underground mines, and the blast has drawn immediate responses from several government ministries, signalling that both a criminal investigation and an administrative inquiry are now under way.
Prosecutors and inspectors assigned
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said the Zonguldak Chief Public Prosecutor's Office opened an urgent investigation into the explosion, which he described as resulting from a build-up of methane gas. According to his statement, one deputy chief prosecutor and two prosecutors have been assigned to the case. Diken reported that detention orders were issued for two people in connection with the incident, though the source material did not identify them.
Labour and Social Security Minister Vedat Işıkhan announced that a chief inspector from the Social Security Institution had been tasked with examining the accident, and said his ministry was monitoring developments closely. Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said in an initial statement that two miners had died and five were hurt, and that efforts were continuing to reach one worker still trapped underground. That worker's body was later recovered.
Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş said psychosocial support teams had been deployed to the site and to the hospital to assist the miners and their relatives.
A region long shaped by mining
Zonguldak's coal basin has supplied Turkey's steel and energy industries for more than a century, and underground work there carries well-documented risks from gas, collapses and equipment failures. The Gelik site is a private operation rather than a state-run TTK mine, though TTK's rescue teams took part in the response.
The blast also drew reactions from political figures and organisations, with Evrensel reporting criticism from institutions who argued that worker deaths should not be treated as fate or accident. İhlas Haber Ajansı reported a condolence message from AK Party Deputy Chairman Acar for the miners who died. Hürriyet reported that the identities of the three deceased workers have been confirmed.
The exact sequence of events underground has not been publicly established, and no findings from either the prosecutorial or the labour ministry inquiry have been released. The condition of the injured workers, one of whom was described as critical, remains the immediate concern.
Watch for the prosecutors' preliminary findings and the labour ministry inspection report, which should clarify how gas accumulated at the site and whether safety procedures were followed.
