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Turkey coal mine explosion: Protests erupt in Soma after PM claims ‘explosions like these happen all the time’ Turkey coal mine explosion: Death toll hits 274, making Soma disaster the worst of its kind in country's history
(about 4 hours later)
Protests have erupted in the Turkish town of Soma where at least 245 coal miners have died after an explosion and fire at a coal mine in western Turkey. A stream of ambulances continued to bring the dead from the Turkey’s Soma mine today. The bodies are carried 2km from inside the mine by a stream of volunteers — many of who are miners themselves.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan postponed a foreign trip and visited the mine in Soma, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) south of Istanbul earlier this afternoon. As many as 787 miners were in the mine at the time of Tuesday afternoon’s explosion, which is thought to have been caused by faulty electrical transformers. While the official death toll rose 274, families and rescuers at the mouth of the mine are now expecting only more bodies to be recovered as the country started on three days of mourning.
Many in the crowd expressed anger at Mr Erdogan's government during a news conference after his visit. Rocks were thrown and some people were shouting that Mr Erdogan was a "murderer" and a "thief". Even as the bodies were still being recovered, violent protests erupted in Soma, where rocks were thrown at police. At the local state hospital officers guarded wards were injured miners were being treated. Meanwhile, in Istanbul, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Soma Holding, the company that owns the mine. In Ankara, the capital, police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse a crowd who had gathered to march to the energy ministry, throwing fire bombs at the gathered police.
Police could be seen wrestling civilians to the ground and apparently arresting them in other parts of the region, while the ruling AKP head office was reportedly attacked. Miner Cengiz Kulayci’s face was blackened by coal dust as he took a break. He had entered the mine three times to rescue his colleagues. “We only found three people alive,” he said. “They had to be carried out and were barely conscious. The others were all dead.”
Many of the protesters were seen wearing yellow hard hats, in solidarity with the miners. Turkey has been hit by mining disasters in the past, notable in 1992 when 263 men died at an accident nearby. But this tragedy has hit a new community and a new generation of miners. “I lost six friends,” said a young miner, his eyes trained on the rescue team 30 metres away.
The unrest came after the Turkish PM reacted defensively to questions over the safety measures in place in the Soma mine, at a time when miners were still trapped underground. Like many waiting on what looks like a makeshift platform, he would refuse to leave until his remaining three friends were found, although he has no hope that they will be found alive.
"Explosions like this in these mines happen all the time. It's not like these don't happen elsewhere in the world," he said, reeling off a list of global mining accidents since 1862. He had the luck to not be on shift when the explosion took place. As bodies were carried through the crowd of desperately waiting friends and family to awaiting ambulances, he could barely hold back his tears.
The protests are the latest in a series of demonstrations against the Turkish PM. In March, tens of thousands took to the streets across Turkey to mark the funeral of a 15-year-old boy who was killed by a tear-gas canister during last summer’s anti-government demonstrations. Each body is met with groans and heart-wrenching cries of disbelief, and, since this morning, no survivors have been found. From the medical tent, mothers scream for their dead sons and men weep in quiet huddles.
In the same month, people also took the streets to protest against the government's court-ordered block on some social media, as Mr Erdogan fought a corruption scandal. The rescue effort has been hampered as it was impossible to pipe in oxygen with a fire still raging in the pit this afternoon, reducing any chance of keeping any of the remaining trapped miners alive.
The Soma mine blast occurred while 787 workers were inside. A rescue operation carried out by more than 400 rescuers has continued overnight to free the hundreds are still trapped inside the mine, while 450 miners have been evacuated so far. The stream of bodies came to the surface throughout the day. Medical teams are only able tend to the bereaved families and issue diazepam for temporary relief.
Questions are now being raised over why Mr Erdogan's AKP party refused calls by the Republican People's Party in April for an investigation into work-related incidents of mines in Soma. Tufan Goksel, a social worker from Izmir, Turkey’s third largest city and the closest to the mine came to talk with the families. “I am not here officially, but I want to see what I could do to help. The people are very angry, and hopeless.”
A proposal was submitted last year for investigations to be carried out into more than 4,500 reported accidents at mines in the region, but it was rejected three weeks ago, according to the Hurriyet Daily News. That anger is palpable. Accusations are rife of dodgy inspections and workers have reportedly complained for months about problems with the electric transformers, the alleged cause of the explosion.
The International Labour Organisation ranked the EU candidate nation third worst in the world for worker deaths in 2012. Frustration was vented at Energy Minister Taner Yildiz as he paid a special visit. He was met with boos from the crowd and shouts of “murderer”. Prime Minister Erdogan was also met with boos when he visited the site. The owner of the mine, Alp Gurkan, has previously been quoted in the Turkish press boasting of how he has reduced the operating cost of the mine.
In an already tense political climate in Turkey, protesters took to the streets across the country with the biggest clashes in Istanbul and Ankara.
Police fired tear gas and water canon at about 800 protesters as they attempted to march from a university  in Ankara to the energy  ministry.
Soma Komur says it has rescued 450 people from the mine. Rescuers argue instead that 20 people were able to escape in the immediate aftermath of the explosion and a further 80 were pulled from inside. The cause of death initially appears to be carbon monoxide poisoning.
Mr Erdogan visited the site at around 1pm today. In a style that has become well-expected from the Turkish leader, he has brushed aside any accusations of wrongdoing and has pointed to similar disasters in countries including the UK as an example that accidents happen. 
During a press conference he cited 19th-century Britain — “I went back in British history. Some 204 people died there after a mine collapsed in 1838. In 1866, 369 miners died in Britain. In an explosion in 1984, 290 people died there.”
The country’s opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) says they have been ignored in their efforts to table motions to investigate work-related accidents in coal mines. CHP MP Ozgur Ozel said his proposal to investigate working conditions in the Soma Mine was rejected as recently as two weeks ago with votes from the ruling AK Party.
Mahmut Isik, a miner from Soma, has stayed at the site since the accident waiting for news, and insists negligence was the cause of the tragedy. “Nobody pays attention to the mining sector because it’s not above ground,” he said. “One day there’s a fire, the next a death, but nobody cares. This happens all the time, but we have no choice because this is the only way to earn money in Soma.”