On 14 October 2022, an explosion occurred in Amasra coal mine in Amasra, Bartñn Province, Turkey, killing 42 people and injuring 27. It was one of the deadliest industrial incidents in Turkey.
The explosion occurred at 6:30 p.m. Turkish time, at a depth of about 300 metres. At the time of the incident, around 110 people were working in the mine and almost half of them were below deep. Some reports stated that five people were working under and 44 people were working under .
Minister of the Interior Süleyman Soylu said that more than 22 people had died and 28 people crawled out on their own. Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca said that 11 people had been pulled out alive and were being treated in hospital. 58 miners were saved.
The cause of the blast is yet unknown and is under investigation, with firedamp (possibly coalbed methane) being one suspected cause.
President Recep Tayyip ErdoÃÂan wrote on Twitter that he was closely monitoring the situation and said that search and rescue operations were progressing rapidly at the mine. ErdoÃÂan canceled a planned trip to Diyarbakñr and instead traveled to Amasra on 15 October. ErdoÃÂan's comments linking the explosion to "the plan of destiny" and saying that such explosions "will always be" drew criticism from opposition leader Kemal KñlñçdaroÃÂlu, as well as protests in Istanbul.