Exhausted Turkish rescue workers described a “descent into hell” yesterday as they tried to save scores of miners trapped underground in the country’s worst industrial disaster.
The number of those confirmed dead after an explosion in a deep-seam coalmine in the west of the country stood at 274 last night, with hope fading fast for as many as 150 others trapped up to 2,000 metres below ground.
As smoke drifted from the mouth of the dilapidated Soma mine, grief-stricken relatives wailed. One man was so overcome that he was dragged, screaming, by soldiers to one of the medical tents put up at the scene.
Rescuers caked in mud and soot sat alongside ashen-faced family members and friends of the victims. Many sat silently, with their